Rate My Professor Todd Ely

Todd L. Ely is a Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, where he directs the Center for Local Government Research and Training since 2016. He joined CU Denver as an Assistant Professor in 2010, advancing to Associate Professor in 2017. Previously, he served as Director of the Master of Public Administration Program from 2022 to 2024, and held positions at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, the University of Arizona, and as a consultant at Accenture. Ely holds a PhD in Public Administration from NYU (2010), an MPA from the University of Arizona (1998), and a BA with honors in Political Science from Emory University (1995). His research specializations include the financing of state and local public services, municipal debt, education finance and policy, and public and nonprofit financial management. Ely is co-author of the textbook Essentials of Public Service: An Introduction to Contemporary Public Administration (2nd edition, 2022, with Mary E. Guy).

Ely has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, including “Endowment Building and Use by Nonprofits: An Integration of Theory and Practice” (Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 2023, with Juniper Katz and Thad Calabrese), “Research Implications of Electronic-Filing of Nonprofit Information: Lessons from the United States’ Internal Revenue Service Form 990 Series” (VOLUNTAS, 2023, with Thad Calabrese and Jihye Jung), “How U.S. Private Foundations Change Payouts Based on Financial Shocks” (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2022, with Thad Calabrese), and “Do Disasters Lead to Learning? Financial Policy Change in Local Government” (Review of Policy Research, 2018, with Deserai Crow et al.). He has received the 2024 Faculty Research Award (co-winner), 2022 and 2020 Faculty Teaching Awards, and 2019 Faculty Service Award from CU Denver’s School of Public Affairs, among others such as the 2014 Gil Crain Memorial Research Award from GASB. Ely serves on editorial boards including Public Budgeting & Finance and State and Local Government Review, university committees like the CU System Faculty Council Budget & Finance Committee, and practitioner boards such as the Colorado Department of Education Facilities Finance Advisory Board. His reports and presentations inform local government policies on capital financing and inflation impacts.