-Province Coordinators

SHAUN R. HARPER is an Assistant Professor and Research Associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University. Formerly, he served as Executive Director of the Doctor of Education Program at the University of Southern California, where he maintains an appointment as a Senior Research Scientist in the USC Center for Urban Education. Best known for his research on Black male students on college and university campuses, he authored three chapters for the book, African American Men in College (Jossey-Bass, 2006). He has presented over 90 research papers, workshops, and symposia at national higher education and student affairs professional conferences since 2000, many pertaining to Black men in postsecondary education.

Dr. Harper’s dissertation on high-achieving African American undergraduate men at public universities received the 2004 National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Melvene D. Hardee Dissertation of the Year Award. He is the author of 32 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and other academic publications. His research on Black male collegians appears in the Journal of College Student Development, the American Behavioral Scientist, the Journal of Men’s Studies, and a wide variety of other scholarly outlets. Moreover, his article on conceptualizations of masculinities among Black male high-achievers, originally published in the Berkeley Journal of Sociology, is reprinted in the 7th edition of Men’s Lives, the most widely read gender studies text on men and masculinities.

He recently completed data collection for the National Black Male College Achievement Study, the largest known empirical investigation of Black male undergraduates. For the National Study, he personally conducted more than 200 face-to-face individual interviews with Black males at 42 colleges and universities in 20 different states. His report, Black Male Students at Public Flagship Universities in the U.S.: Status, Trends and Implications for Policy and Practice, was released in September 2006 by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. Additionally, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded him a grant in 2005 to study the effects of mentoring on increasing Black male representation in highly-selective graduate and professional schools. In October 2006, he delivered the inaugural keynote address for the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Black Male Initiative Distinguished Speaker Series.

An active member of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the American Educational Research Association, and several other professional organizations, Dr. Harper received the 2005 Emerging Scholar Award and the 2006 Annuit Coeptis Award for early career achievement, both from the American College Personnel Association. In March 2007, he will begin a two-year term as Director of Research on the NASPA International Board of Directors. Dr. Harper earned his bachelor’s degree in Education from Albany State, a historically Black university in Georgia. His master’s degree in College Student Affairs Administration and Ph.D. in Higher Education are from Indiana University.

ABBREVIATED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ON BLACK MALE COLLEGIANS

Harper, S. R., & Quaye, S. J. (2007). Student organizations as venues for Black identity expression and
development among African American male student leaders. Journal of College Student Development, 48(2), 133-159.

Harper, S. R. (2006). Black male students at public flagship universities in the U.S.: Status, trends and
implications for policy and practice. Washington, DC: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Harper, S. R. (2006). Peer support for African American male college achievement: Beyond internalized
racism and the burden of ‘acting White.’ Journal of Men’s Studies, 14(3), 337-358.

Harper, S. R. (2006). Enhancing African American male student outcomes through leadership and active
involvement. In M.J. Cuyjet (Ed.), African American men in college (pp. 68-94). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Harper, S. R., & Harris III, F. (2006). The role of Black fraternities in the African American male
undergraduate experience. In M.J. Cuyjet (Ed.), African American men in college (pp. 128-153). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kimbrough, W. M., & Harper, S. R. (2006). African American men at historically Black colleges and
universities: Different environments, similar challenges. In M.J. Cuyjet (Ed.), African American men in college (pp. 189-209). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Harper, S. R. (2006). Creating a cyclical culture of leadership and engagement: A model for Black male
achievement at HBCUs. In D. N. Byrne (Ed.), Models of success: Supporting achievement and the retention of Black males at HBCUs (pp. 149-170). New York: Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.

Harper, S. R. (2006). Reconceptualizing reactive policy responses to Black male college achievement:
Implications from a national study. Focus: Magazine of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, 34(6), 14-15.

Harper, S. R. (2005). Leading the way: Inside the experiences of high-achieving African American male
students. About Campus, 10(1), 8-15.

Harper, S. R., Harris III, F., & Mmeje, K. C. (2005). A theoretical model to explain the overrepresentation
of college men among campus judicial offenders: Implications for campus administrators. NASPA Journal, 42(4), 565-588.

Harper, S. R. (2004). The measure of a man: Conceptualizations of masculinity among high-achieving
African American male college students. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 48(1), 89-107.

• Reprinted in M. Kimmel & M. Messner (Eds.), Men’s Lives, 7th edition, Allyn & Bacon Publishers, 2006 – The most widely read gender studies text on men and masculinities

Harper, S. R., Carini, R. M, Bridges, B. K., & Hayek, J. (2004). Gender differences in student
engagement among African American undergraduates at historically Black colleges and universities. Journal of College Student Development, 45(3), 271-284.

Harper, S. R., & Wolley, M. A. (2002). Becoming an “involving college” for African American
undergraduate men: Strategies for increasing African American male participation in campus activities. The Bulletin of the Association of College Unions International, 70(3), 16-24.

Harper, S. R. (in press). Realizing the intended outcomes of Brown: High-achieving African American
male undergraduates and social capital. American Behavioral Scientist.

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