President
- DEd, Penn State University, Higher Education Administration
- MEd, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Educational Administration
- BEd, University of Toledo, Secondary Education/Comprehensive Social Sciences
James T. “Jim” Harris III, DEd, became the University of San Diego’s fourth president on Aug. 3, 2015. During his time as president, USD has been recognized as one of the top schools nationally for being a “best run college” and having the “best quality of life” by the Princeton Review, a top five program nationally for promoting public service by Washington Monthly, and has received additional recognition for its sustainability efforts and work to enhance diversity and inclusion.
Jim is a first-generation college student. To this day, he still brings that same sense of excitement, energy and sense of wonder to his work and says his life was transformed through three profound experiences during his college years. First, he converted to Catholicism inspired in part by his experience as a student teacher at a Catholic high school. Secondly, he found his vocation and fell in love with the idea of teaching and of being an educator. And third, he found the love of his life, his wife, Mary. He and his wife, Mary, were married in 1982 and have two sons, Zachary, and Braden, both of whom are graduates of USD.
During his entire career, Jim has traveled internationally with students, faculty and alumni at every institution he has served. Whether it was for a service-learning experience or simply to connect with USD alumni around the world, Jim is proud that USD has consistently ranked as one of the nation’s leading study-abroad programs for undergraduate students. In the summer of 2022, Jim traveled the Camino de Santiago in Spain, alongside 32 fellow pilgrims who were members of the Torero family. Jim has also joined students and faculty on cultural immersion trips around the world, including participating in a water quality and public health research project in Uganda in 2020.
With an authentic, down-to-earth leadership style and an engaging personality, Jim creates meaningful connections with students and surrounds himself with student activities. He initiated “President for a Day,” when he switches places with a student, classes, while the student takes on his role as president and weighs in on important university decisions. He regularly hosts President Forums, when he and other members of his leadership team update the campus on the progress of various initiatives. From ice cream socials to casual sit-downs with students, faculty and staff, Jim enjoys spending quality time with members of the campus community. At dawn, he often can be found walking the trails of Tecolote Canyon with students, faculty and staff. He has a reputation at USD for being visible across the campus and accessible to members of the campus community.
Jim is also a civically minded leader and educator, and, throughout his academic career, has worked closely with cross-discipline teams to spearhead new civic and community engagements, connecting academic environments with intractable issues faced by society. He has helped USD lean more deliberately into its role as an anchor institution, which is a way for USD to affirm and to be congruent with its core values of community and compassionate service. He has been a passionate supporter of USD’s important role as an anchor institution located on an international border: “The establishment of centers on campus, such as the Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness and Social Action, as well as USD’s designations — as the first Ashoka U Changemaker Campus on the West Coast and one of the first institutions identified by the Vatican as a Laudato Sí University — provides us with a great framework for moving forward.”
Under Jim’s leadership — and despite a global pandemic — USD completed a series of essential campus infrastructural upgrades through an initiative known as the Renaissance Plan, a $300 million dollar effort to update existing campus facilities and add new academic buildings to better serve the campus community. In 2021 USD launched the Horizon Project, a five-year initiative designed to move USD to the forefront on being more “open, inclusive and welcoming.” The Horizon project has helped USD grow to become one of the most diverse private universities in the United States. Every first year class in the past eight years has been more diverse than the previous one and today, USD is truly a global campus with students from over 80 countries, all 50 states and 3 US territories. In the fall of 2023, the first year class was the most diverse (50% students of color) and the most academically selective class in the university’s history.
Jim is the President Emeritus of Widener University, a private, independent institution educating more than 6,300 students on four campuses in two states — Pennsylvania and Delaware. Under his leadership, Widener opened the Widener Partnership Charter School, the state's first university-based charter school and also developed many other programs to engage the community such as the Chester Small Business Development Center and the Widener Chester Community Nursing Clinic. During his tenure, the university completed its largest campaign, achieved the highest undergraduate enrollment in its history, achieved the highest retention and graduate rates in the university’s history, and achieved national recognition for its work in civic engagement. For his service to Widener, the Board of Trustees bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Humane Letters and named a residence hall on campus in his honor.
Prior to his appointment at Widener, Jim was president of Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio, where he established the McMaster School for the Advancement of Humanity and developed a service-learning program that was ranked among the top 25 in the country. Under his leadership, the College increased its enrollment by over 60% and improved retention and graduation rates of its students. Defiance College also received the largest gift in its history.
Jim earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Toledo, a master’s degree in educational administration from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and his doctorate in education from Pennsylvania State University. All three of his alma maters have recognized him for his leadership in education and, in 2013, The Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees named him a Distinguished Alumnus, the highest honor the university bestows upon a graduate.
He remains an active scholar and professor, teaching leadership courses to undergraduates at USD. He is also interviewed regularly as a thought leader in higher education. In 2013, he co-authored a book titled, Academic Leadership and Governance in Higher Education, which he, along with three co-authors, revised in 2022. The book was published by Stylus and was on its higher education best sellers list. Jim has also been tapped to help train the next generation of college and university leaders. For example, he served for 20 years as a faculty member for the Harvard University Management Leadership Program and most recently was named by AGB as a faculty member for its Institute for Leadership and Governance.
Other recent writings include: a chapter featured in the thought leadership series, Presidential Perspectives, titled “Convene, Cooperate and Collaborate: How Six Colleges and Universities Came Together to Address Issues of College Access for Urban Youth,” as well as an essay on, “There is Value in Every Person” for the book, This I Believe Philadelphia.
The span of his career includes volunteer leadership service in numerous local, state and national roles. Examples of his leadership include: Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), one of the largest educational associations in the world; Vice Chair of the NCAA Division 1, Board of Directors and NCAA Board of Governors, Chair of Lead California, Chair of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania; Chair of the Pennsylvania Campus Compact; Vice Chair of National Campus Compact, a national coalition of 1,200 college and university presidents dedicated to promoting civic engagement among college students; Chair of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council; and a board member of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. Locally, he is proud to serve as Chair of the Board of Directors of The Monarch School Project, a unique and innovative K-12 school, dedicated to educating unhoused youth.
In recognition of his considerable contributions to education and the communities he has served, Jim has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including leadership awards from the NAACP and the Urban League for his work on defending civil rights and promoting civic engagement. Earlier in his career, he was named by the John Templeton Foundation as one of the Top 50 Character-Building Presidents in America, and in 2011, he received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from CASE. Defiance College recognized him in 2002 with its highest recognition, the Pilgrim Award; and Widener University bestowed upon him the lifetime title of President Emeritus in 2015. In 2014, he was recognized with the College and University Public Relations and Associated Professionals’ Ciervo Award, presented to one who exemplifies the association’s fundamental purposes of supporting and advancing the understanding of higher education. In 2023, he was recognized by Lead California (formerly known as California Compact) with the Western Region Continuums of Service Engaged Presidential Award.