Rachel Venema

Rachel Venema, PhD is a Senior Consultant at DataWise. Rachel earned a Master’s in Social Work focused on policy and evaluation from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Chicago, with an interdisciplinary concentration in violence and victimization. Rachel served as a faculty member and BSW program director in the Department of Sociology & Social Work at Calvin University from 2009-2022 and then as Director of Surveys and Research at the Frost Center for Data and Research at Hope College from 2022-2023. In both roles, Rachel has engaged in numerous community-based research and evaluation projects, both qualitative and quantitative. Although Rachel enjoys research and evaluation broadly, she has a special interest in topics related to gendered violence and institutional responses. Outside of work, Rachel enjoys spending time outside (preferably when it’s warm and sunny), living in her walkable Eastown neighborhood, playing games with her two children, and enjoying her husband’s cooking.