Student Success Conference
The Maricopa Community Colleges are excited to have Dr. Shaun R. Harper as the keynote speaker at the nineteenth annual Student Success Conference. The conference is scheduled for Friday, November 2, 2007 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Desert Willow Conference Center. The focus of this year’s conference is The Invisible Man: The Vanishing Minority Male in Higher Education. Dr. Harper has conducted extensive research in this area and he delivers a powerful, energetic, and engaging message.
Dr. Harper is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania. Formerly, he served as Assistant Professor and Research Associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Pennsylvania State University. He has also served as the Executive Director of the Doctor of Education Program at the University of Southern California. Also serving as a professor in the doctoral program, Dr. Harper won the USC Rossier School of Education Socrates Professor of the Year Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2004.
Best known for his research on Black male students on college and university campuses, he has authored three chapters for the book, African American Men in College (Jossey-Bass, 2006). He has presented over 100 research papers, workshops, and symposia at national higher education and student affairs professional conferences since 2000, many pertaining to Black men in postsecondary education. Last year, he authored “Black Male Students at Public Flagship Universities in the U.S.: Status, Trends, and Implications for Policy and Practice,” a report written for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. A recent issue of Diverse Issues in Higher Education features “Seeking Out Success,” which discusses Dr. Harper’s undertaking of the largest-ever empirical study of Black male undergraduates.
The topic of the vanishing minority male in higher education has received national attention through publications, conferences, and research. Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities, 2007 reports that the percentage of male students in all race/ethnicities has decreased from 52% in 1976 to 43% in 2004. Hispanic male students have seen decreases from 54% to 41%; American Indian male students from 50% to 39%; African American male students from 46% to 36%, and Asian male students from 54% to 46% during the same time period. Dr. Harper’s research focuses on minority males in terms of high achievement rather than a student deficit model. Harper says, “I’ve long felt that no student rises to low expectations. In many ways, the guys in this national study have exceeded the low expectations that have been set for Black males.” (Diverse, Sept. 6, 2007).
The Maricopa Community Colleges will also be hosting two pre-conference events. The first event will target minority male students across the district and will provide an opportunity for students to dialogue with Dr. Harper, share their college experiences, and interact with other male students. The second event will provide Maricopa leadership and select community members and organizations with an opportunity to meet Dr. Harper the night prior to the conference. Registration is currently available for the Student Success Conference at http://www.maricopa.edu/studentaffairs/conference07/index.php .