Jennifer Pacheco Villalobos, PhD (she/her/ella), is an Assistant Professor of Practice at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), where she serves as Chair of the Evaluation Concentration and Director of the Doctorate of Evaluation Practice (D.Eval) program—the first professional doctorate in evaluation in the U.S. She also holds faculty appointments in the Drucker School of Management and with the Claremont Flourishing Center.
Villalobos is an organizational psychologist and evaluator with more than 20 years of experience working across education, healthcare, philanthropy, and social impact sectors. She has led and collaborated on numerous contracts as a core affiliate of the Claremont Evaluation Center and as the founder of her independent consulting practice, Liki Evaluation & Organizational Psychology Consulting, Inc. Her portfolio includes multi-year, mixed-methods evaluations; strategic planning engagements; leadership development initiatives; and capacity-building efforts for mission-driven organizations.
Her practice and scholarship integrate culturally responsive evaluation, positive psychology, and equity-centered design to support systems change and organizational learning. Her research interests include psychological capital, social justice evaluation, and ethical applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in applied research, psychology, and evaluation. Her work has appeared in journals such as the American Journal of Evaluation, New Directions for Evaluation, Organizational Dynamics, and the International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management.
A frequent speaker and facilitator, Villalobos has delivered invited lectures and workshops on evaluation, positive psychology, and AI for local, national, and international audiences. She also serves as Program Chair for the American Evaluation Association’s Use & Influence TIG, Managing Editor for the Evaluation and Society book series, and a peer reviewer for several academic journals.
A Southern California native, Villalobos is deeply committed to advancing culturally responsive and socially just evaluation. She works with mission-driven organizations to bridge scholarship and practice in ways that promote equitable systems change and meaningful organizational learning.
Villalobos, J.P., Cho, Minji, & Donaldson, S.I. (2025). Gleaning Insights from Research on (RoE) PhD Dissertations. New Dir Eval. (in press, Fall 2025)
Donaldson, S. I., Villalobos, J. P., & Cho, M. (2025). Following the science to understand how to reduce prejudice and its harmful consequences: A guide for evaluators and program planners. Evaluation and Program Planning, 102556.
Villalobos, J. P., & Grandjean Targos, P. T. (2025). Open data in evaluation: Implications and challenges of facilitating data interpretation using open data. New Dir Eval.. https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.20626
Donaldson, S. I., & Villalobos, J. P. (2024). Positive mindset: PsyCap’s roles in PERMA+ 4 and positive organizational psychology, behavior, and scholarship 2.0. Organizational Dynamics, 53(4), 101084.
Villalobos, J. P., Cabrera, V., & Donaldson, S. I. (2024). Intergroup peace and character strengths. In R. Niemiec (Ed.), Peace psychology and character strengths: Integrating science and practice (pp. 139-155). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Villalobos, J. P., & Cabrera, V. (2025). A constructive critique: Advancing positive psychology with equity and justice. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 10(1), 17.
Villalobos, J. P. (2024). Exploring the relationship between psychological capital and social justice evaluator performance (Doctoral dissertation, The Claremont Graduate University).
Villalobos, J., Chan, L. B., Chen, C., & Donaldson, S. I. (2020). Exploring adaptability and proactivity across cultural contexts. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 20(3), 345-360.)
Donaldson, S. I., Chan, L. B., Villalobos, J., & Chen, C. L. (2020). The generalizability of HERO across 15 nations: Positive psychological capital (PsyCap) beyond the US and other WEIRD countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9432.
Evaluation Procedures
Evaluation for Social Good in a Digital Age