For Jessica Harris, PhD, associate professor of historical studies and interim assistant provost at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, it is all about payback. The education, mentorship and love Harris received at Dillard University in New Orleans, is what has prepared and propelled her to be an educator and administrator at SIUE who pours into the lives of students and positions them for success.
Harris’s achievements and outlook won her the attention of her alma mater, earning her Dillard’s 40 Under 40 award. In part, the awards program honors 40 Dillard alumni under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in their professional field, community or the world. Harris was recognized during the second annual awards ceremony on Saturday, May 12 at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel.
“I feel honored, privileged and blessed. There would be no Dr. Jessica Harris without Dillard University,” said Harris, who graduated with a bachelor’s in history from Dillard in 2002. She received her master’s and PhD in history from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2006 and 2011, respectively.
“It felt good to be around my classmates, who are accomplished in their fields and are still grounded, servant minded, and always thinking about community, and how to help the next generation,” said the 38-year-old.
While Harris does not know who nominated her, she believes she may know why she was selected. “I hope it was because I have lived up to and have demonstrated the values I was taught as a student at Dillard,” she explained. “We were taught to have pride in our culture, to give back to our community and to be servant leaders.
“As a professor and now as an administrator at SIUE, I think it is important to mentor students and pour into them what has been poured into me,” Harris continued. “The way my career progressed here has been in terms of broadening the scope in which I help students. As a professor, I had students in my classroom who were my priority. As director of Black Studies at SIUE, I was able to expand what I did in the classroom.”
“Now, I’m responsible for working with campus partners to find ways we can create initiatives to support students across the board and give them tools to be successful,” Harris stressed. “No matter how my title changes, I will always put students first.”
It was because of the care and involvement of her mentors, in particular Dr. Alan Colón, that Harris said she became a historian.
“It was my first semester at Dillard, that I took an Introduction to African World Studies class with Dr. Colón. I wrote a paper on the Black Panther Party and received an A,” recounted Harris.
“Dr. Colón submitted my paper to a contest sponsored by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) without telling me,” Harris said through tears. “I was one of three students who won. In my sophomore year, I was invited to present the paper at their national conference.”
It was at the ASALH conference that Harris met two noted historians, the late John Hope Franklin, esteemed for his work on southern history and racial politics, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Darlene Clark Hine, board of trustees member, emeritus professor of African American Studies and professor of history at Northwestern University.
“They encouraged me to consider getting a PhD and being a historian,” recalled Harris. “At the time, I had always wanted to be a lawyer. It was because of those conversations, and what happened when I got back to Dillard, that I decided to pursue history.
“If Dr. Colón and my other mentors at Dillard, Dr. Dorothy Smith, Dr. Marshall Stevenson and Dr. Sylvia Ballard-Huete, hadn’t looked at me and saw my potential,” said Harris, “I probably wouldn’t be sitting here.
“When I look back at my time at Dillard, there was never a doubt that my peers and I would be successful, because our education had prepared us,” she continued. “We were reminded every day that, to whom much is given, much is required. Our collective mindset was one of giving back and being productive and responsible citizens, no matter where we were and where life would take us. This award means so much.”
Photo: Jessica Harris, PhD, associate professor of historical studies and interim assistant provost at SIUE.