Michael Harris

Michael S. Harris is a professor of higher education, Department Chair of the Department of Education Policy and Leadership, and Director of the Ed.D. in Higher Education program. His primary research interests consider the culture, strategy, and behavior of higher education institutions. Harris has taught graduate courses in organization and governance, academic leadership, organizational theory, and the history of American higher education.

His work has been published in leading higher education journals such as The Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, Higher Education, Innovative Higher Education, Higher Education Policy, and reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Atlantic. He has published four books, Teaching for Learning: 101 Intentionally-Designed Educational Activities to Put Students on the Path to Success 2^nd Edition (Routledge, 2021) with co-authors Claire H. Major and Todd Zakrajsek, The Qualitative Dissertation in Education: A Guide for Integrating Research and Practice (Routledge, 2019) with coauthor Karri Holley, How to Get Tenure: Strategies for Successfully Navigating the Process (Routledge, 2019), and Understanding Institutional Diversity in American Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2013). 

He holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina in American History, a M.Ed. and Ed.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in higher education administration. In 2004, he received the AERA Division J Dissertation of the Year award.

Research

BOOKS AND MONOGRAPHS

Major, C.H., Harris, M.S., & Zakrajsek, T. (2021). Teaching for learning: 101 intentionally-designed educational activities to put students on the path to success (2^nd edition). New York: Routledge

Holley, K.A., & Harris, M.S. (2019). The qualitative dissertation in education: A guide for integrating research and practice. New York: Routledge.

Harris, M.S. (2019). How to get tenure: Strategies for successfully navigating the process. New York: Routledge. 

Harris, M.S. (2013). Understanding institutional diversity in American higher education. ASHE Higher Education Report, 39(3). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. PDF

SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Harris, M.S. (2020). An empirical typology of the institutional diversity of U.S. colleges and universities. Innovative Higher Education, 45(3), 183-199.

Harris, M.S. & Ellis, M.K. (2018). Exploring involuntary presidential turnover in American higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 89(3), 294-317. PDF

Harris, M.S. & Holley, K.A. (2016). Universities as anchor institutions: Economic and social potential for urban development. In Paulsen, M.B. (Ed.)Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, Volume XXXI. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. PDF

Harris, M.S. & Hartley, M. (2011). Witch-hunting at Crucible University: The power and peril of competing organizational ideologies. The Journal of Higher Education, 82(6), 691-719. PDF