Stephanie James Harris, Ph.D.

Director of Africana Studies Program
College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Stephanie James Harris is the recently appointed Director of Africana Studies Program at Seton Hall University.

Dr. Stephanie James Harris is the recently appointed Director of Africana Studies Program at Seton Hall University. Established in 1970, the Africana Studies program at Seton Hall University is the oldest in New Jersey. Africana Studies, as an academic discipline, stands at the center of the study of the African American experience, Africa, and the African Diaspora—the global dispersion of peoples of African descent. Using an interdisciplinary approach to coursework and research, the program under Dr. Harris’s leadership will continue to introduce students to a wide range of expansive historical and contemporary perspectives, promoting critical engagement with the entirety of the human experience while challenging any unjust societal laws or perceptions of race, justice, equity, power, and tradition.
Dr. has worked in various institutions for more than twenty -five years cross pollinating public education and the infusion of African American historical content and culture via the modality of schools, museums, historical societies, cultural institutions, and the government. She is a firm believer in the power of the contextualization of history for the public, and that visual, artistic, historical and cultural artifacts as well as film, are all exceptional teaching tools. Coupled with research and scholarship, whenever she presents or teaches, Dr. Harris always strives to present our intertwined history as the perfect foundation to deconstruct historical mistruths and usher in an accurate discussion of American history.
As quoted by Kahlil Gibran ``Work is love made visible.” As the former Executive Director of the Amistad Commission, there from its inception, Dr. Harris was charged with the responsibility of framing out the public educational policy agency, formulating the agency’s program offerings for the public, Educators, students and districts, as well as strategizing the praxis and oversight of the law’s implementation; ensuring that African American content, contribution and experiences are historically infused and adequately taught in ALL of the state’s classrooms. According to the auspices of the legislation, New Jersey did not design a separate African American Studies course for New Jersey’s school districts but will make sure that African American content, and the narratives of all marginalized peoples is infused throughout the curriculum, and taught in all levels of Social Studies and the Humanities within their proper place. When asked to enumerate in one sentence what she believed is her life’s purpose; the response without hesitation, is always to be a voice for our ancestors and the recounting of our collective history, culture, literature, politics, and economics to students in order to create global leaders. Dr. Harris firmly attributes an understanding of the frameworks of cultural competency, cultural awareness and sensitivities of our varied experiences, as well as culturally relevant practices; as integral components in educational leadership for diverse student populations in the 21st century. That has been the mantra and tenet of both her vocational and personal passions for more than 30 years. It is from this framework, Dr. Haris has approached her educational policy and teaching methodology, pedagogy and curriculum development in both secondary and higher education. It is also from that modality that she promulgates the creation and execution of administrative duties, public education, public policy decision-making, public history programs, workshops, and exhibitions.