Martin Harris, Ph.D.
Interim President, Los Angeles, Irvine, and Westwood Campuses and Dean of Academic Affairs
Dr. Harris holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Irvine and the M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Washington State University. After, completing a professional psychology internship at UCLA, Dr. Harris carried out postdoctoral work at Cornell University. While at Cornell he developed a research program for students interested in working with migrant farm workers. Dr. Harris received several university awards for this work including the President’s “James A. Perkins Prize for Interracial Understanding and Harmony.”
Subsequent to Cornell, Dr. Harris served as a Program Officer for the American Psychological Association. In this role, he managed and wrote grants from several Federal agencies including, NIMH, NIA, SAMHSA, CSAP, CSAT & others. Dr. Harris has served as a tenured faculty member at Vanguard University & Bethany University and has taught and/or served as adjunct faculty at Washington State University, Pepperdine University and UCI College of Medicine. Administratively, Dr. Harris has served in the roles of Department Chair, Graduate Director, Associate Provost, Acting Provost, Diversity Officer and Vice President of Enrollment, Advancement and Student Life.
From 1996 to present, Dr. Harris has served on the APA Minority Fellowship Program initial review committee. In this capacity, he has helped allocate considerable funding to doctoral students specializing in clinical psychology, gerontology, neuroscience and medicine. Dr. Harris has participated as a presenter, consultant or grant reviewer to several state and federal agencies. Including, the U.S. Department of Justice OJJP & ONDCP, SAMHSA, TCADA, HACU and others. In 2003, he developed and directed the first ever federally contracted conference (CSAP) on the efficacy of faith based approaches to substance abuse treatment, prevention and education. A published researcher, Dr. Harris serves on the Board of Editors for the Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture.
From 1998-2011, Dr. Harris served as administrative pastor to a homeless church. His community work also includes evaluation research, measuring the efficacy of several (federally contracted) substance abuse intervention programs.