James T. Harris III is the fourth president of the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

. Previously, he served as president of

Widener University Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. The university has three other campuses: two in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and Exton) and one in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded as The Bullock School for Boys in 1821, the school ...

(2002-2015) and

Defiance College Defiance College is a private college located in Defiance, Ohio and affiliated with the United Church of Christ. The campus includes eighteen buildings and access to the Thoreau Wildlife Sanctuary. History The college began as Defiance Female ...

(1994-2002), where he was named one of the top 50 character-building presidents in the United States by the

John Templeton Foundation The John Templeton Foundation (Templeton Foundation) is a philanthropic organization that reflects the ideas of its founder, John Templeton, who became wealthy via a career as a contrarian investor, and wanted to support progress in religious an ...

Career

While Harris served at Defiance, the College received the largest gift in its history when the McMaster family gave Defiance $6 million to establish the McMaster School for the Advancement of Humanity. The College also achieved national recognition from U.S. News as one of the nation's top 25 service-learning schools during Harris' tenure. Harris was also Vice President at

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, and the College of Mount St. Joseph in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Harris started his career teaching social science at the

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

Central Catholic High School. Harris, a first-generation college student, received his D.Ed. from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 1988. In 2003 he was named an alumni fellow by the alumni association and in 2013 a distinguished alumni by the university's board of trustees, the highest honor given a graduate of Penn State.. He has also received degrees from

Edinboro University PennWest Edinboro is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University, a multi-campus public university in Pennsylvania. Located in the town of Edinboro, the campus has more than 4,600 enrolled students. History Edinboro University was founded ...

and the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...

. Both Edinboro and Toledo have named him a distinguished alumni. Harris is nationally recognized for his work in civic engagement. In 2011 he was awarded the Chief Executive leadership award by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. He has been elected to serve on multiple national and state boards holding many leadership positions including currently serving as treasurer and a member of the executive committee of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, and as a member of the steering committee of the National Anchor Institutions Task Force. Examples of leadership roles he held earlier in his career include being elected as the Chair of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, Chair of Pennsylvania Campus Compact and Vice Chair of the national Campus Compact Board. He also served as the Chair of the NCAA Division III President's Council. During his time on the NCAA board he was a member of the executive committee and was on the presidential search committee that hired current NCAA president Mark Emmert. Harris has been a member of the MDP faculty at Harvard University since 2001. He is the author of multiple scholarly articles on higher education and in 2013 he co-authored a book on Academic Leadership and Governance published by Stylus.

Personal life

Harris has been married to the former Mary Catherine Kurdila for over thirty years and they have two sons; Zachary and Braden. Harris is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, James T. III Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Widener University faculty Wright State University Mount St. Joseph University University of Toledo alumni Penn State College of Education alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Edinboro University of Pennsylvania alumni