David R. Harris is an American sociologist and academic administrator. He is currently the president of

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

and chancellor of

Union University Union University is a private Baptist Christian university in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville. The university is affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). It is ...

. He previously served as the provost of

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

Education

Harris studied at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

where he received a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in human development and social policy in 1991. He later received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in sociology from Northwestern in 1997.

Career

Harris was the former senior associate dean at Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences and a former deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to his position as dean, he was also Cornell's vice provost, deputy provost, and interim provost. Before Cornell he was also associate chair of the Department of Sociology at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. During his time at Cornell, he became the founding director of Cornell's new Institute for the Social Sciences in 2004. In 2005 Cornell's provost

Carolyn Martin Carolyn Arthur "Biddy" Martin (born 1951) is an American academic, author, and a former president of Amherst College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Before becoming president at Amherst, she was Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, ...

asked him to become the university's first vice provost for social sciences. Two years later Harris became Cornell's first deputy provost, which included acting as the provost's alternate. He played an important role in Reimagining Cornell, a strategic initiative aimed at the financial and administrative reconstruction of the university. In 2010, Harris joined the Obama administration as deputy assistant secretary for human services policy. After, he returned as senior associate dean of Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. In 2018, Harris was selected for ''honoris causa'' membership in Omicron Delta Kappa at Union College.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, David R Tufts University administrators Northwestern University alumni University of Michigan faculty Living people Cornell University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Union College (New York) Union College (New York) faculty Presidents of Union College (New York)