Elkins has been a professor at Harvard University since she completed her doctoral degree in Harvard's history department in 2001. She received full tenure in 2009, and subsequently became the founding director of Harvard's Center for African Studies. She was appointed the Oppenheimer Faculty Director and in her six years as director created one of the world's largest institutions for the study of Africa, raising significant funds and garnering from the US Department of Education's the distinction as a National Resource Center for African Studies. Elkins currently teaches courses on modern Africa, protest in East Africa, human rights in Africa, and colonial violence in the 20th century.