Donna Surges Tatum, PhD, CAE, CAEd

Donna Surges Tatum, PhD is a Psychometrician as well as a Communication Science scholar. She holds a Baccalaureate in Communication and a Master of Arts in Persuasion and Organizational Communication from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Her doctorate in Measurement Evaluation Statistical Analysis (MESA) is from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Surges Tatum founded Meaningful Measurement, a research and psychometric services company dedicated to creating ethical solutions for problems, measuring outcomes and communicating results.She develops tools and techniques to enhance the quality of decision-making, thereby enabling organizations as well as individuals to maximize their resources. She delves for deeper into quantitative data than a classical statistical analysis.

In addition to cutting edge quantitative techniques, Dr. Surges Tatum creates innovative ways to uncover further information by using qualitative data. She developed a new mechanism to calibrate qualitative responses, as well as using thematic and content analysis of answers to open-ended questions that yields gold that is rarely mined.

Dr. Surges Tatum conducts customized research and organizational development for companies from a variety of sectors including food, manufacturing, financial services, education and healthcare. She manages large scale surveys; designs outcomes measures; analyzes product/preference testing; conducts needs assessments and market checks; conducts workforce studies; supervises client as well as employee satisfaction studies; and steers other special research projects. To name a few, she has worked with corporations such as ABN/AMRO; Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Cigna, Chicago Tribune, Dow Brands, EHS Healthcare; Jenner & Block LLC, GE Capital, Kraft Foods, Inc., McDonald’s Corporation, Quaker Oats Company, Wm Wrigley Jr. Company.

Some of the educational institutions that have used her measurement expertise are: Chicago, Indianapolis, and Washington Township Public Schools; Butler (KS), Chicago, McHenry and Waubonsee Community Colleges; University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Butler University, Arkansas University, Roosevelt University. Purdue University, University of Chicago Hospitals.

Currently Dr. Surges Tatum’s primary focus is with organizations to maintain standards in the high-stakes arena of national and international board certification and licensure programs and examinations. She provides all services necessary to conduct a high-stakes credentialing program. The ability to motivate and guide volunteers and Subject Matter Experts is a particular strength. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE).

A partial client list includes the Academy of General Dentistry, (AGD) Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC), Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB), Dental Assisting National Board (DANB), National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC), National Council of Certified Personal Trainers (NCCPT), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA).

Dr. Surges Tatum is Consulting Psychometrician to the American Osteopathic Association where she provides oversight for the 18 Physician Specialty Certifying Boards and advises the AOA Standards Review Committee. She is currently leading a team of communication scholars and physicians to develop a program for training and assessing physician professionalism and communication competence.

Dr. Surges Tatum is a lecturer at the University of Chicago and researches and presents on a variety of topics.