Leigh Rauk

Assistant Research Scientist

Dr. Leigh Rauk is an assistant research scientist with the Program Evaluation Group (PEG). She specializes in participatory and collaborative approaches to community-based research and evaluation with a utilization focus. She received her PhD in Community Well-Being from the University of Miami in 2021. In 2022, Rauk completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, where her research focused on the intersections of school safety and firearm violence. Her work has spanned a variety of topic areas including workforce and nonprofit organizational development, youth development, and community well-being. She has extensive experience building partnerships with community organizations, designing and leading mixed-methods evaluation studies, logic modeling and theory of change development, and facilitating organizational learning and capacity building. She currently serves as the lead evaluator for several PEG projects.

Curriculum Vitae

Contact Information

  • [email protected]

  • 3743 SSWB
    University of Michigan
    School of Social Work
    Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Education

  • 2021 PhD Community Well-Being
    University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
  • 2017 BASW Social Work
    Michigan State University, Lansing, MI

Activities

Publications

Rauk, L., Schmidt, C. J., Pelletier, K., Heinze, J. E., Cunningham, R. M., Carter, P. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2023). More is not always better: Examining the cumulative effects of school safety policies on perceptions of school safety for youth of color. Journal of School Violence, 22(3), 416-428.
Rauk, L., Rupp, L. A., Hohl, B. C., Kondo, M. C., Ornelas, L., Carter, P. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2023). Lessons learned from local vacant land management organizations for engaging youth in greening. American Journal of Community Psychology.
Evans, S. D., Broad, K., Cairo, A., Majumdar, S. J., McNoldy, B. D., Milet, B., & Rauk, L. (2022). An interdisciplinary approach to evaluate public comprehension of the "cone of uncertainty" graphic. Bulletin of the Meteorological Society, 103, E2214-E2221.
Schmidt, C. J., Rauk, L., Cunningham, R. M., Zimmerman, M. A., Roche, J. S., & Carter, P. M. (2022). How multi-disciplinary research centers and networks can advancr the science of firearm injury. The ANnALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 704(1), 242-266.
Rauk, L. (2021). Getting to the heart of it: A reflection on the importance of community psychologists developing an anti-racist practice. Global Journal of Community Psychology, 12(3), 1-17.
Trickett, E. & Rauk, L. (2019). Community Wellbeing, Community Intervention, and Community Development: Changing Community Ecology. In Page-Reeves, J. Well-Being as a Multidimensional Concept: Understanding Connections Between Culture, Community, and Health. Lexington Books.

Honors and Awards

Year Description
2019 The Social Change Maker Award, Power U Center for Social Change

Presentations

Year Description
2024 Rauk, L. (2024). Bridging the Gap: Inclusive Evaluation Practices for Mental Health in Marginalized Communities. Invited webinar presentation for the Washington Evaluators membership.
2024 Steuck, K. & Rauk, L. (2024, April). Better Together: Building Local, Community-Wide Evaluation Capacity. Oral Presentation at the Texas Evaluator’s Network Institute.
2023 Feldmann, M.L., Price, A.W., Steuck, K., Rauk, L., & Metcalfe, J. (2023, October). How to Connect your TIG or Affiliate by Telling your Story: A Round Table Session About the IC Topic Chats. Round table presented at the American Evaluation Association Conference.
2022 Rauk, L., Hitchcock, J., & Speck, R. (2022). School Violence—Is there a Relationship with ACEs? Invited panel discussion at the Michigan ACE Initiative Annual Conference, Lansing, MI.
2022 Rauk, L., Schmidt, C.J., Pelletier, K., Heinze, J. E., Cunningham, R.M., Carter, P.M., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2022, November). More is not always better: Examining the cumulative effects of school safety policies on perceptions of school safety for youth of color. Oral presentation at the National Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention.