Shaun R. Harper
Shaun R. Harper (born October 26, 1975) is an American scholar on racial equity in the United States. He is a Provost Professor in the Rossier School of Education and the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.[1] He also is the Clifford and Betty Allen Chair in Urban Leadership, founder and executive director of the USC Race and Equity Center, president of the American Educational Research Association, a past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, and an editor-at-large of TIME magazine. He spent a decade at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a tenured professor and founding executive director of the Center for the Study of Race & Equity in Education. He was previously a member of President Barack Obama's My Brother's Keeper Alliance Advisory Council.
Shaun R. Harper | |
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Born | Thomasville, Georgia, U.S. | October 26, 1975
Occupation | University professor |
Nationality | United States of America |
Education | Indiana University Ph.D. |
Alma mater | Albany State University |
Subject | Race and Racism, Higher Education, African American Studies, Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory, Urban Education |
Spouse | Shawn K. Hill |
Website | |
works |
Early life and education
Harper was born to a 16-year-old single mother in Thomasville, Georgia. He is a 1994 graduate of Thomasville High School and a 1998 graduate of Albany State, a public historically black university in Georgia. As an undergraduate student at ASU, he was president of the student government association, Polemarch (president) of the Delta Xi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, editor-in-chief of The Student Voice (the official student newspaper), a member of three collegiate honor societies, and a drummer in the ASU Marching Rams Show Band. He earned a master's degree in College Student Affairs Administration in 2000 and Ph.D. in Higher Education in 2003, both from Indiana University.
Career and research
Harper began his career as a student affairs professional at Indiana University, where he worked in student activities and Greek Life. From 2000 to 2003, he served as Assistant Director of MBA Admissions for the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. In 2003, he became Executive Director of the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Programs at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education, where he also served as an Assistant Professor. He moved to Penn State University in 2005, where he was an Assistant Professor and Research Associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education. Harper joined the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education faculty in 2007, where he earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. He founded the Center for the Study of Race & Equity in Education that same year. Penn promoted Harper to Professor in 2016. He returned to the University of Southern California in July 2017 as the Clifford and Betty Allen Chair in Urban Leadership and founding executive director of the USC Race and Equity Center.
Recognized in Education Week as one of the 10 most influential professors in the field of education, Harper is an expert on race, equity, and student success at U.S. colleges and universities. Review of Research in Education, Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, Journal of Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, and Journal of College Student Development are some journals in which his research is published. Johns Hopkins University Press is publishing Race Matters in College, Harper's 13th book. He is immediate past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and a member of President Barack Obama's My Brother's Keeper Alliance Advisory Council.
Select press and media

The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and over 15,000 other news outlets have quoted Professor Harper and featured his research. He has been interviewed on CNN, ESPN, PBS News Hour, and NPR.