Elaine Ikeda

LEAD California (formerly California Campus Compact)

Biographical Abstracts

Dr. Elaine Ikeda has been deeply involved with the service learning and community engagement field, as a graduate student researcher at UCLA (1996-1999), directing the National Service-Learning Higher Education Clearinghouse (1999-2000), and as executive director of California Campus Compact/LEAD California (2000-2025). 

Ikeda played a national leadership role in the development and implementation of civic and community engagement programs designed to meet community needs. She trained national community engagement and service-learning faculty, staff, students, and administrators through conference workshops, webinars, retreats, and institutes. Perhaps most notably, she provided countless opportunities for others to build their capacity for high-quality research and scholarship.

She served as a researcher on the seminal study, How Service-Learning Affects Students (UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, 2000). Ikeda conceptualized and led the largest study of community partner perspectives in the literature to date (Community Voices: A California Campus Compact Study on Partnerships, 2007). California Campus Compact/LEAD California also created over 20 publications (summary, evaluation, and impact reports; guidebooks; and white papers) under her leadership. 

Areas of Expertise

• Service-learning
• HIgher education
• Community partnerships and engagement
• Leadership development