Ciannat  Howett

Howett attended Emory University as an undergraduate, receiving her B.A. in 1987. She then worked at Emory until 1989 as Associate Director of Alumni Giving and the first Director of the Emory Parents Funds. She received her law degree from University of Virginia in 1992. She practiced environmental law with Kilpatrick Stockton in its Atlanta and Washington, DC offices for four years, was Senior Attorney with the Water Enforcement Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. for six years, and served for four years as Director of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Georgia and Alabama office. She become Emory’s first Director of Sustainability Initiatives in September 2006, managing a university-wide effort to ensure that Emory’s actions and policies support environmental, social, and economic systems that provide a healthy, productive, and meaningful life for current and future generations. She is a Trustee for the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation, on the Board of Emory Law School’s Turner Environmental Law Clinic, the Hambridge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences, The Livable Communities Coalition, Sustainable Atlanta Board of Directors, Grants to Green Advisory Board, DeKalb County’s Green Commission, and Agnes Scott College’s National Sustainability Advisory Committee. She received the 2002 U.S. EPA Gold Metal for Exceptional Service, the 2004 Environmental Hero Award from The Wilderness Society, and the 2010 Pillar of Sustainability Award from Earth University. She is a frequent regional and national speaker on environmental issues, and, for four years, has been named a “Georgia Super Lawyer” by Atlanta magazine.