Clayton Hurd

Clayton leads cohort programs focused on engaged scholarship for undergraduate and graduate students at the Haas Center, including the Graduate Public Service (GPS) Fellowship Program, the Community Engaged Scholars Program (CESP), and the Community-Based Research Fellows Program. He also spearheads the Center’s capacity building efforts to expand community-engaged research opportunities across campus, particularly in community-engaged capstone experiences.

Clayton received his doctoral degree in cultural anthropology from UC Santa Cruz. His scholarship includes community-based participatory research and scholar-activism in the areas of equity-focused public education, housing justice, and social sustainability. Over his career, he has taught and mentored students in a variety of community-engaged learning and research settings including service-learning courses; first-year programs; living learning communities; capstone experiences; and graduate seminars focused on engaged scholarship. Clayton is committed to supporting students interested in pursuing asset-based approaches to community development and who wish to work with communities through reflective service, solidarity, engaged scholarship, and collaborative action.

Clayton returned to Haas Center in 2022 after a four-year stint with Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to advancing the public purposes of higher education. As their director of professional development and engaged scholarship, he led a national credentialing program for community engagement professionals; developed the infrastructure for a national network of communities of practice (CoPs) addressing critical issues in higher education community engagement; managed The Research University Civic Engagement Network (TRUCEN); and continues to serve as the senior editor of Campus Compact’s broad portfolio of publications.  

Clayton formerly served as the Haas Center’s senior program director of public service research and graduate engaged scholarship from 2011 to 2018. His other former positions include director of service-learning and assistant professor of anthropology at the College of Coastal Georgia and director of the Office of Service-Learning and assistant professor of education at Colorado State University. 

Clayton is an animal lover and in his spare time likes to hike, trail run, play ultimate frisbee, and read/lounge in coffee shops.