James Allan

James Allan joined Johns Hopkins in November 2024 and is responsible for leading alumni engagement strategy across the university and for the Office of Alumni Relations (OAR). He shares why he’s always admired the work of Johns Hopkins as a research institution. 

“When I learned about the opportunity to lead the OAR team and work with the amazing Hopkins alumni, I jumped at the chance to apply,” he says. 

James now calls Baltimore home, but he grew up in northern Ontario in Deep River, a community of 4,000. Deep River isn’t the typical small town, however. It was established in the 1940s to support nuclear research and an applied physics organization owned by the Canadian federal government. “When I was a kid, everybody’s parents were scientists and engineers who worked in the nuclear industry,” he says. 

James earned bachelor’s degrees in English and history from the University of Toronto and a master’s in communications from McGill University in Montréal before receiving his doctorate in communications and media studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2002. “I’ve always been fascinated by the way that stories, storytelling, and mass media shape our understanding of the world,” he says — areas he’s leaning into as he moves forward in his new role.  

What have you learned since starting in your role at Hopkins? 

I’m still very much in listen-and-learn mode. But the thing I’m struck by at this point is the scope and size of both the institution, community, and the caliber of the people. There are so many of our students and faculty members who are doing truly remarkable things and that’s equally true of our alumni. This means there’s an embarrassment of riches when it comes to alumni stories to tell and great research to feature. It also means that there’s some additional challenges to creating truly engaging programming for alumni who are busy in their lives and careers. 

What does your position involve that others might not realize? 

It’s both a people-job and a data-and-systems job. On one hand, we need to engage people as individuals, so there’s lots of great work meeting people and understanding their stories, thinking about alumni needs and motivations, and connecting individuals with each other and with the institution. At the same time, given the fact that we have more than 250,000 alumni, we also need to think and work at scale: which means understanding how data can inform program design and decision-making, and how and when we might want to use scalable systems to engage alumni across the U.S. and around the world. 

What opportunities do you see for Hopkins Alumni Relations? 

The biggest opportunity lies in collaboration — working more actively, proactively, and strategically with colleagues across DAR and in the divisions, and with our colleagues in student life and other areas of the university to provide opportunities for alumni to connect and support. We do this already, of course, but I believe we can take it to the next level. 

What do you like to do when you are not working? 

When I’m not working, I spend a fair amount of time in the gym. I’m also a choral singer and have sung in classical chamber choirs ever since my high school days. I’m currently shopping for a new choir here in Baltimore and welcome any suggestions.  

Please share something we don’t know about you. 

I played the bagpipes for about 10 years; they were my great-grandfather’s pipes. I also played in a regimental pipe band during my teenage years. I was never very good at marching in step with the band, but I can at least hold a beat!