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Carol Gotway Crawford, Howard Hogan Honored with Mentoring Award

1 October 2018 974 views No Comment

Carol Gotway Crawford and Howard Hogan are dual recipients of the 2018 Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award, which recognizes individuals working in federal, state, and local government agencies for their efforts in mentoring junior statistical staff.

The award committee hosted an awards ceremony and reception July 11 to honor Crawford and Hogan. Family, friends, and colleagues joined friends of Jeanne Griffith, the award committee, and the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) at this event, marking the 16th annual presentation of this award and the 10th year the Government Statistics Section (GSS) has managed the award process.

Howard Hogan and Carol Gotway Crawford are dual recipients of the 2018 Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award.

The Award

The Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring award honors Griffith, who died in 2001 after working for more than 25 years in the federal statistical system. The award acknowledges supervisors, technical directors, team coordinators, or other members of federal, state, or local government statistical staff who make unique efforts to mentor and encourage younger staff at all levels to learn, grow, and recognize and seize career opportunities. The award includes a plaque and a $1,000 honorarium.

The 2018 Award Recipients

Crawford is the director of the Center for Design, Methods, and Analysis Applied Research and Methods (ARM) Team of the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The co-workers who nominated Crawford emphasize that she is recognized as an innovative and strategic thinker, seasoned federal government executive, and an internationally recognized leader in geospatial analysis and geographic information systems. In addition to her numerous professional achievements, she is known for going out of her way to mentor and encourage junior staff at all levels to learn, grow, and recognize and seek career opportunities.

One co-worker commented, “As a mentor to many junior staff members, Dr. Gotway Crawford is readily accessible, always listening, supportive, motivational, and inspiring.”

Another noted that “in mentoring and supervising, Carol has stressed more than technical skills. She motivated and provided me with feedback to build my self-confidence and to prepare for career growth.”

Yet another stated that “what is also staggering is how the efforts of one leader, one particular person, can truly make a difference in advancing the professional careers and collegial- and personal life-balance of so many junior statisticians and other staffers.”

In her position at the GAO, Crawford provides leadership and direction to a staff of methodologists, social science analysts, statisticians, and survey specialists who provide consultative expertise in sampling, collecting, and analyzing statistical and other data, assessing data reliability, and developing technical sections of GAO products. Crawford also plans and directs all program activities necessary to providing sophisticated analysis in support of GAO’s audits and evaluations of federal programs.

Prior to joining GAO, Crawford worked at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2014–2017 as the deputy director for science and planning in the Research and Development Division of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). She served in research management and science leadership by advising the administrator of NASS, director of the Research and Development Division, and director of the Methodology Division on statistical issues and methodology affecting NASS programs. She also served as a research statistician in mathematical statistics for agricultural surveys and censuses, geospatial techniques, and statistical modeling for estimation and process measurement.

Before joining USDA, Crawford spent 18 years in federal service with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, where she held a variety of roles. Early on, Crawford served as a research statistician with the National Center for Environmental Health, where she developed and applied innovative statistical methods for study designs in environmental health investigations.

Hogan is the chief demographer at the US Census Bureau, where he has had a distinguished career. He has worked across many statistical programs, including census coverage measurement, economic surveys, census operations, and demographic programs. He has also held many important positions, from analyst to associate director to his current position.

Hogan’s co-workers who nominated him tell a story of a mentor who is knowledgeable, accessible, enthusiastic, experienced, and engaged. They also describe a mentor who develops close friendships and takes a sincere interest in the lives and careers of the people he works with.

As mentioned by his co-workers in their nomination letters, a good mentor might be knowledgeable, easy to approach, or eager to help. A great mentor is all of these. Hogan’s strengths, according to his nominators, include expertise across a range of academic disciplines, the fact that “statisticians, demographers, sociologists, and economists turn to him for advice and guidance” on their analyses, and that he is readily accessible. The nomination letters mention his “door is always open” for people to “pop on up” and talk.

His co-workers also comment about his enthusiasm toward working with junior staff. Even when Hogan advanced to senior positions, he remained accessible to junior staff and enjoyed opportunities to advise them.

Hogan also fosters an atmosphere of learning by organizing study groups and other forums for people to engage one another. For several years, he has hosted a demography study group that meets regularly during lunch to discuss journal articles.

Hogan is a seasoned senior manager who has helped several of his co-workers make the challenging transition to management. One co-worker commented that Hogan never “tells me what to do, but helps me navigate the path to reach my own decisions.”

Finally, as one co-worker ponders Hogan’s future retirement, he comments that this event will make him very sad, as it means the loss of a colleague who has contributed so much to his professional development. He goes on to state, “I can’t think of anyone at the Census Bureau who has been more willing to mentor junior staff, in whatever capacity they need, to develop as analysts, managers, and professionals.” These qualities capture the essence of the Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award.

2018 Selection Committee

The 2018 Selection Committee was chaired by Bill Mockovak. Other members include Anna Nevius, Joy Sharp, Cynthia Ogden, and Diane Willimack. In addition, Kevin Cecco continued to provide valuable support to the committee through his fundraising efforts.

2019 Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award
Nominations for the 2019 award can be submitted beginning January 2. The nomination package can be mailed or emailed to the following addresses:

The Jeanne E. Griffith Mentoring Award Committee
c/o The American Statistical Association
732 N. Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-1943
Email: rick@amstat.org

If you have questions about the award, email Rick Peterson or call (703) 684-1221. You may also contact the current chair of the award committee, Bill Mockovak.

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