BSED, School of Education and Social Policy, 1991
PhD, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, 1997
Alumni Merit Award Winner
When David Harris arrived at 1835 Hinman Avenue — his dorm across the street from Lake Michigan — he was enthralled with the beauty of the Evanston campus and the surrounding area. A native of the Philadelphia area, Harris was about to embark on a most challenging and memorable time at Northwestern, where he would hone his talents and set himself up for a bright, successful future.
Of course, that’s not to say he didn’t have a little fun along the way.
“From freshman until junior years I was in Delta Upsilon,” he said. “I had many great times with my fraternity brothers. Those days of hacky sack, parties, late-night conversations, and hanging out were tons of fun.”
Before coming to Northwestern, David’s chances of becoming a significant voice in the sociology world, a university provost, and a political appointee of a US President might have seemed unlikely to some. His parents didn’t attend college, nor did they have the financial resources to send David to many of the nation’s top schools.
“My life would have been very different if generous financial aid had not been available,” says David, a recipient of the National Merit Scholarship. “Through Northwestern’s SROP (Summer Research Opportunities Program), the encouragement of Professor Karen Fuson to apply, and the mentoring of Professor Roberto Fernandez throughout and beyond my student research project, I discovered a path that would not otherwise have occurred to me — a PhD and a career in academia.”
David has parlayed his Northwestern experience into a stellar career in the field of sociology. He was an assistant professor at the University of Michigan from 1997 to 2003 before becoming a professor at Cornell University. While at Cornell, David also served as interim provost, deputy provost, vice provost for social sciences, and founding director of the Institute for the Social Sciences.
From March 2010 to July 2011, he took a leave of absence to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Services Policy at the US Department of Health and Human Services. In 2012, he began his position as provost and senior vice president at Tufts University.
David has written numerous articles on poverty and class, and racial and ethnic disparities. In 2008, he collaborated with Ann Chih Lin to publish The Colors of Poverty: Why Racial and Ethnic Disparities Exist.
David met his wife, Anne (WCAS91), at Northwestern. They live in Lexington, Massachusetts, and have three children.