Yesterday afternoon, Dr. James T. Harris, III, DEd, was installed as the fourth president of the University of San Diego. The inauguration ceremony took place in the Jenny Craig Pavilion and was attended by not only students, faculty, and staff but dignitaries from local government, past USD president’s, as well as personal Harris family friends and colleagues.
President Harris assumes a critical leadership role at USD but there’s more to our new president then what is captured in his resume.
Here’s a few fun facts you may not know about our new president….
- He married his college sweetheart, Mary, and they’ve been together for 33 years.
- He was a first-generation college student when he attended the University of Toledo (Ohio) as an undergraduate.
- Dr Harris loves reading biographies.
- Harris is a fan of nature and the outdoors and especially enjoys boating, kayaking, hiking.
- He often participates in community service-learning projects with students and most recently worked with USD students to build a functional garden at Montgomery Middle School, a school that is positioned less than five miles from the USD campus.
- He was 35 years old when he accepted his first university presidential appointment at Defiance College, an independent liberal arts college in northwestern Ohio.
- and Mrs. Harris have hosted hundreds of students at their home for dinners, including student government leaders, where Dr. Harris enjoys doing the cooking.
Are you interested in learning more about the role of the president at USD, or, how he spends a typical day? You can follow President Harris at Twitter at @USDpres and Instagram @usdpres