Evelyn Campbell, Ph.D.
Evelyn Campbell, Ph.D., launched Impactus Research & Consulting in May 2025, where she serves as Founder and Principal Consultant, leading community-centered strategy and social impact initiatives. An Evolving Human and Social Investment Strategist, she blends scientific rigor with deep community commitment. Trained as a microbiologist and shaped by many years in academia, she developed expertise in research design, statistical analysis, evaluation, and program leadership. Over time, however, she recognized a persistent disconnect between academic theory and lived public experience. Coming from a low-income, first-generation background, Dr. Campbell felt called to step beyond the university setting and re-engage the communities that reflect her own roots—ensuring her work directly serves those navigating structural inequities.
In her role as Founder and Principal Consultant, Dr. Campbell oversees a portfolio of client projects, manages strategic partnerships, cultivates new collaborations, and works hands-on across strategy, analysis, implementation, planning, and logistics. With approximately three years of consulting experience prior to and alongside launching her firm, she partners with nonprofit, philanthropic, government, and mission-driven organizations to strengthen data infrastructure, measure programmatic efficacy, and build sustainable systems. Her work translates academic and analytical training into practical, real-world solutions that generate measurable and meaningful community impact.
Dr. Campbell’s professional philosophy centers on leading with love, compassion, and an unwavering respect for human dignity. She is committed not only to advancing social sector initiatives, but also to supporting individuals—particularly those from low-income, first-generation, and marginalized backgrounds—in recognizing their inherent worth and potential. By integrating strategy with soul and analytics with empathy, she creates impact that is both structurally transformative and personally affirming. At the heart of her work is a simple but powerful belief: when we remember that we are embodiments of love and act accordingly, we build stronger communities and a more just world.
• Credential in Higher Education Administration
• College Teaching
• Adult Mental Health First Aid USA
• Certificate of Leadership
• University of Chicago - PhD, Microbiology
• Rider University - BS, Biology
• Honoree, Women in Excellence
• McNair Scholar
• Rider Advantage Scholarship Recipient
• Provost's Scholarship Recipient
• Forman S. Acton Scholarship Recipient
• Friends of Education Scholarship Recipient
• Paul Sherr Book Award Recipient
• Chicago Women's Philanthropy Chapter
• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
• Chicago Urban League, Metro Board
• Forman Acton Foundation
• National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Umu Igbo Unite Chicago Chapter
• Youth Sports Science Institute
• Target H.O.P.E
• LSMRCE (Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence
• Rider University
What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to mentors and people along the way that believed in me and saw something in me before I saw something in myself, essentially. I had a lot of support along the way, and yeah, I understand I've worked very hard to get to where I am, but also I'm really appreciative of the support network from various different groups and things like that.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think the best career advice I've received would just be to trust that everything will be okay, as long as you follow your purpose.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Honestly, I would give them the same advice that was given to me. Just figure out your purpose, figure out what really spikes a fire in you, and just go all in on that. It's gonna be difficult, but as long as you stay true to your purpose, I think that you will be fine. Everything will be fine.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say the biggest opportunities would be that right now, what the country, the United States, needs is a lot of healing, and I think a lot of people are becoming more open to that. With everything that's happening politically and socially and economically, people are needing more different kinds of supports that are not just financial. People are also starting to be more open to connecting on a different way with their higher selves and more spiritual connection. I'm really looking forward to actualizing that in my business and helping people to remember the common thread amongst all of that. But I think a challenge also kind of works in the same vein, is that there are many devices of division that are out there, and I think that's going to be difficult to work through. Because we have to remind people that we're greater than these devices that are dividing us by race, gender, and whatever social conflicts you think of. So that's going to be a challenge, but I think once people kind of wake up to the fact that these are all made up and not really real, it could be such a powerful experience, and I hope that in my work that I can help to wake people up, and then the way they live will also wake others up, and so it'll be like a ripple effect.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say for me, it's just leading with love, making sure that we just remember the humanity in ourselves and one another. I try to bring that - I mean, I definitely try to embody that in the way that I live, the way that I interact with people, showing compassion towards other people, and trying to make space for them to be the fullness of their human, the human that they are, and I want to also remind people to do the same.
Locations
Impactus Research & Consulting
Chicago, IL 60637