Jessica C. Harris Honored with 2020 ASHE Early Career Award

UCLA Assistant Professor of Education Jessica C. Harris has been recognized by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) with its Early Career Award. Harris is honored for her overall body of work at UCLA and previously at the University of Kansas, with her research focused on multiraciality in higher education, the study of campus sexual assault, and interrogating the mis/use of theory in higher education research and practice.

“Professor Harris is an outstanding scholar who has already made significant contributions to education though her scholarship and teaching and mentoring,” says Christina Christie, Wasserman Dean of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. “We are thrilled that she has received this well-deserved recognition and honor.”

“I feel humbled in receiving this award and I am so grateful for all my mentors that continue to support my professional trajectory,” says Professor Harris. “I am also so indebted to the students I work with who push me daily to do better and think outside of the box.”

Harris’ work uses Critical Race Theory to explore the experiences of Multiracial students, staff, and faculty and has interrogated the varied ways race and racism emerges across various higher education contexts.

Earlier this year, Professor Harris received the 2020 Scholars of Color Early Career Contribution Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for her research contributing to a better understanding of issues that disproportionately affect racially minoritized populations in education. 

Harris is the co-author of “Intersections of Identity and Sexual Violence on Campus: Centering Minoritized Students’ Experiences” (With Chris Linder. Stylus Publishing, 2017). The book is an exploration of how the violent history of U.S. colonization continues to influence minoritized students’ contemporary experiences with campus sexual violence.

Photo by Idriss Njike, UCLA Housing