Aliya Durham, PhD, MSW, MPIA

Personal Biography

Aliya D. Durham, PhD, MSW, MPIA, is an Assistant Professor and Director of Community Engagement at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. A community engaged practitioner-scholar with over two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and volunteerism, she specializes in fostering collaborations that bridge theory and practice and integrates human-centered design into her teaching praxis. 
   
Her scholarly contributions include place-based and institutional strategies fostering a sense of community responsibility among marginalized populations, the development of faith-based mental health interventions using community partnered research methodologies and exploring culturally responsive evaluation practices among Black mental health practitioners. Dr. Durham is co-investigator on multiple funded projects, an award-winning faculty member recognized for championing engaged scholarship and collaboration and serves on numerous academic committees and community advisory boards.

Research or Work Focus
Education
Civic Engagement
Sense of Community Responsibility
Collective Impact
Service Learning
Highlighted Contributions

- Manager, Browne Leadership Fellowship
- Manager, Community and Racial Equity Leadership (CREL) Fellowship
- 2025 International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSCLE)   Practitioner-Scholar Community (PSC) Participant
- LUMA Institute, Certified Human-Centered Design Practitioner
- Homewood Community Engagement Center Neighborhood Advisory Council