Ciannat M. Howett

Emory University

Director of Sustainability Initiatives

Ciannat became 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 also an Adjunct Professor at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Ciannat 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 Fund.  She received her law degree from the University of Virginia in 1992.

She practiced environmental law with Kilpatrick Stockton in its Atlanta and Washington, DC offices for four years, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. as Senior Attorney with the Water Enforcement Division for six years and served for four years as Director of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Georgia and Alabama office.  She is a Trustee for the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation and serves on the Board of Emory Law School’s Turner Environmental Law Clinic, The Livable Communities Coalition, Sustainable Atlanta, and Grants to Green.  She serves on the DeKalb County Green Commission, the Agnes Scott National Sustainability Advisory Committee, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sustainability Task Force, and the President’s Council of the Southern Environmental Law Center. 

She received the 2002 U.S. EPA Gold Medal 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 sustainability issues, and, for four years, has been named a “Georgia Super Lawyer” by Atlanta magazine.