Dr. Frank Harris III

Dr. Frank Harris’s presentation to our faculty and staff was invaluable due to his unique perspective surrounding the concepts of unconscious bias and racial microaggressions in the classroom.

Dr. Harris provides a clear explanation of how detrimental unconscious bias and micro aggressive behaviors can be to students of color, if not recognized, and how critically important it is for faculty and staff to be intentional in their work related to issues of equity.

The resources that Dr. Harris provides explain the relationship between unconscious bias and racial microaggressions. He does an exceptional job in articulating the impact of unconscious bias and racial microaggressions especially as it relates to the educational practice affecting boys and men of color.

Dr. Harris has been supporting our college since 2015 in our efforts to institutionalize equity.  He has delivered keynote addresses and professional development workshops on supporting men of color, addressing basic needs insecurities, equity-minded institutional assessment, delivering equity-minded student services online, and a host of other topics.  He has had a huge impact on how we practice equity at our college–from what we say to what we do.

“Dr. Frank Harris III is an engaging and exceptional scholar. He’s led sessions at Fullerton College on the topics of Teaching Men of Color in the Community College and Ending Food Insecurity in California’s Community Colleges. His research and the guidance that he provides to colleges provides faculty and staff with the knowledge and skills to make substantial progress related to equity goals and outcomes.”

Frank has been an essential partner in our efforts to build campus community and capacity to address the issues that impact racial equity at our college. What I really appreciate about Frank is his ability to facilitate the difficult conversations we must have to achieve our social justice goals, while effectively engaging a broad range of campus stakeholders–students, classified professionals, faculty, managers, and executives–navigate the essential call to action and accountability.

Many community college faculty can be skeptical about outside “consultants” who are invited in to deliver a message – especially related to how faculty can address equity and diversity in the classroom. Frank’s presentation at our opening Fall meeting was entitled, “Advancing Equity in a Climate of Resistance and Change.” It was enlightening and hard-hitting. Frank grabbed the attention and interest of not just “the choir” but the “passive resisters” and “defiant” amongst us. The proof of this was when faculty voluntarily attended Frank’s follow on sessions after the keynote and engaged in very forthright discussions about what they can do to more effectively embrace equity in their roles as faculty.

Ventura College was fortunate to have Dr. Harris lead dynamic and engaging conversations with our campus community on advancing equity to achieve student success. Our members were actively involved throughout the session due to Dr. Harris’ interactive presentation style and his dynamic speaking ability. This led to a high level of intentional dialogue that continues at the college. We received numerous comments regarding Dr. Harris’ use of a variety of techniques that kept them engaged while providing helpful tools to impact the lives of our students.

Dr. Harris was the keynote speaker and provided workshops at our annual Convocation for faculty and staff. He did a wonderful job of creating understanding and consensus around the many reasons why equity in educational outcomes is critical. He also helped all employees take personal responsibility for the role they can play in achieving equity. Dr. Harris gave us actionable strategies based on his extensive research that we could employ immediately. Our college community gained both knowledge and empowerment to make a difference from our experiences with Dr. Harris.

Our College was fortunate to engage Dr. Frank Harris III during the academic year, 2018-2019. The incredible effort that Dr. Harris put forth in four specific programs from September 2018 thru June 2019 has been an inspiration and a foundation for our College’s work, from student equity and success for students to equity-minded practices for our faculty. His professionalism, intellect, and wonderful way of connecting with each person in the audience, make him an ideal person to bring on a college campus to support and encourage working on high-impact institutional practices to redress outcome disparities, especially for men of color. I highly recommend Dr. Frank Harris III for your institution!

Dr. Frank Harris III, conducted a powerful presentation related to the role of Classified professionals in the advancement of the equity to achieve student success.  Often, classified staff feel disconnected from discussions related to equity and the implementation of new statewide initiatives such as guided pathways and AB 705. This training was essential for our classified staff to understand their important role in closing equity gaps and help increase student success.  Our classified staff indicated a feeling of “empowerment” during this presentation.  As a result, classified have taken on greater roles in shared governance committees on campus and participate on key district wide committees.  Most importantly, there is a strong sense of collaboration and communication between faculty and classified staff, helping to remove “silos” as we make important decisions that will impact student success.

Dr. Harris is simply one of the most prolific and consequential educational scholars and racial justice freedom fighters of our generation.

Dr. Frank Harris spoke to a large group of Illinois’ community college leaders to share insights about strategic planning through an equity lens.  His presentation at once validated many of our assumptions while simultaneously pushing us forward and helping us envision a more equitable and inclusive future for Illinois community colleges. Dr. Harris’ message was just as insightful and inspirational as it was practical.  Each of us left the conversation with a list of next steps as we returned to our campuses to lead strategic planning.

We invited Dr. Harris to deliver the keynote address for our spring convocation. This was my first convocation as president of Grossmont College so I needed it to be one that our campus would remember.  Dr. Harris did a wonderful job of setting the stage for our work on anti-racism, which he will be involved in.  I’ve had several colleagues who’ve been at the college for more than a decade share that this was the best convocation we’ve had since they’ve been here.