Phyllis L. Clay, PhD

Phyllis Clay, a former New Mexico Evaluators board member, passed away on December 12, 2019. Phyllis served on the New Mexico Evaluators board in 2017 and 2018.

An accomplished researcher and evaluator, Phyllis had retired from Albuquerque Public Schools after serving as Manager of Research and Evaluation. She held a PhD in Program Evaluation from The Ohio State University and a PhD in Psychology from Saybrook University. Previously, Phyllis directed a large team of PhD-level evaluators and evaluation assistants at the Kansas City, Missouri, School District and served as Director of Research and Evaluation at the Kansas State Department of Education. 

Phyllis formed her company, Synthesis International, Inc., to combine her multiple interests, including research consulting. She did research/evaluation consulting for universities, school districts, youth-serving organizations, private non-profits, and foundations, and taught measurement and program evaluation at the graduate and undergraduate levels.  

Phyllis was a person of many passions and talents. She met her husband Steve through a dance club, and together they competed nationally and internationally in dance competitions. Her life’s resume was long and varied. She was an ordained minister, a school teacher, a world traveler, even an airline stewardess at some point in life. She was a life-long lover of art museums, singing, jazz music, and poetry. 

She had multiple other “callings.” She extensively studied and practiced psychosynthesis. She was a psychosynthesis coach and gifted teacher who worked with individuals and groups to foster their personal, professional, and spiritual growth. Phyllis was deeply spiritual. Later in life she studied/practiced Lakota Indian traditions and Peruvian shamanism.Phyllis followed her heart to New Mexico, lured by the mesas in Jemez Springs, to be exact. 

Phyllis was warm, kind, energetic, talented, and brilliant. She brightened every life she touched. We have lost a great colleague and friend. Phyllis  will be warmly remembered and profoundly missed.