Community-Engaged Alliance hires new executive director, Dr. Elijah Howe

Community-Engaged Alliance is proud to announce the hiring of Dr. Elijah Howe as executive director, effective August 1, 2022. Howe brings with him 15 years of experience working at the intersection of philanthropy and higher education.

"I am honored to serve as the next executive director of Community-Engaged Alliance,” Howe said. “The work of CEA is core to the function of higher education and was the animating force behind my graduate work and research. I am grateful to the board for this opportunity, and I look forward to joining an excellent staff and moving CEA into a new era."

Howe comes to Community-Engaged Alliance from Western Governors University, where he currently serves as the director of corporate and foundation relations. There, he designs and implements fundraising strategy and helps successfully identify and cultivate prospective donors from around the country. Prior to his time at WGU, Howe worked at the Indiana University Foundation, the IUPUI Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and the National Survey of Student Engagement.

Howe earned a Ph.D. in higher education from Indiana University in 2017, where he focused his doctoral research on community engagement. His dissertation was a history of student philanthropy at IU and the ways students utilized their time on campus to cultivate and pursue unique visions of the public good.

“We are so delighted to bring on Dr. Howe as the newest executive director,” said Dr. Deborah Curtis, Indiana State University president and Community-Engaged Alliance’s board chairperson. “He possesses a unique combination of subject-matter expertise in our field, high-level relationship management skills, and leadership qualities that make him thoroughly qualified for this position. We have no doubt he will be a huge asset to the future of our organization.”

Howe succeeds Summer Webb, who served as interim executive director for 9 months.

Published July 18, 2022