Dr. Frank Harris III

Dr. Frank Harris III, Co - Director at CCEAL

Dr. Frank Harris III is a professor of postsecondary education and co-director of the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL) at San Diego State University. In addition to serving as a professor and Director of CCEAL, Harris is a senior strategist in the Division of Campus Diversity and Student Affairs. In this role, he advises the Division on efforts to institutionalize equity and designs innovative professional learning experiences to build equity mindedness among faculty and staff.

Dr. Harris is best known for his expertise in racial [in]equity in postsecondary education and has made important contributions to knowledge about college student development and the social construction of gender and race in college contexts. His work prioritizes populations that have been historically underrepresented and underserved in education. Harris’s scholarship has been published in leading journals for higher education and student affairs research and practice, including the Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Educational Researcher, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Journal of Negro Education, and the Community College Journal of Research and Practice. Harris also regularly disseminates scholarship through refereed conference proceedings, workshops, symposia, and keynote addresses, and he has delivered more than 1,000 academic and professional presentations throughout his career.

Harris is the co-editor/author of four books: College Men and Masculinities: Theory, Research and Implications for Practice, Teaching Men of Color in the Community College, Teaching Young Boys and Men of Color, and Supporting Men of Color in the Community College. His commentary has been sought by high-profile media outlets, including Diverse Issues in Higher Education, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Huffington Post, Inside Higher Ed, CNN, and Fox 5 News San Diego. Colleges and universities across the country regularly consult Harris for his expertise on student equity, student success, and institutional transformation, and he has worked with more than 100 postsecondary institutions, community organizations, and nonprofits on equity-related efforts. During the Obama Administration, Harris was invited to The White House to share his knowledge and expertise on the status of boys and men of color in education.

Before joining the faculty at San Diego State, Harris worked as a student affairs educator and college administrator in the areas of student crisis support and advocacy, new student orientation programs, multicultural student affairs, academic advising, and enrollment services. He also served as an adjunct professor of speech communication at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. Dr. Harris earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies at Loyola Marymount University, a master’s degree in speech communication at California State University, Northridge, and a doctorate in higher education from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

    SIGN UP