Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Vernon B. Harper Jr. is the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at CSU Bakersfield (CSUB).
Prior to joining CSU Bakersfield, Dr. Harper was AVP for Academic Administration at West Chester University of Pennsylvania (WCU). Reporting to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Harper had responsibility for many of the operational and resource management areas within the division. His managerial responsibilities were in the areas of enrollment management, the Francis Harvey Green Library and the Frederick Douglass Institute, which is a system-wide entity that promotes multiculturalism through the legacy of Douglass. During his tenure at West Chester University, he coordinated the initial launch of a new campus location in Philadelphia.
Before joining WCU, Dr. Harper was the Associate Provost at Wilkes University in Wilkes Barre, PA. In that role, Dr. Harper was a member of the President’s Cabinet and reported to both the President and the Provost. Dr. Harper was responsible for regional accreditation, assessment and institutional effectiveness, while overseeing the Office of Information Analysis and Planning. One of his most significant accomplishments was co-authoring a number of the decennial accreditation reports that led successfully to institutional re-accreditation. To add, Dr. Harper led a cross-functional team of faculty and administrators to launch the Pocono Education Center in Tannersville, PA., which offered numerous academic programs including Engineering Management, Nursing, and the Master of Business Administration. Dr. Harper was a coordinator of the university’s strategic plan Vision 2015, where he played a central role in charting the university’s strategic growth plan.
Before joining Wilkes University, Dr. Harper was an Associate for Academic Affairs at the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV), which is the system administrative body of the sixteen 4-year institutions and twenty-three 2-year institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Dr. Harper drafted both correspondence and policy guidance under the signature of the Governor of Virginia. In addition, Dr. Harper played a lead role in the assessment and accreditation processes at the system level, as well as serving as a liaison between SCHEV and multiple state-wide constituencies including the NASA space consortium.
Dr. Harper was on the faculties of Christopher Newport University in Virginia as an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and as an Assistant Professor at California State University, San Bernardino.
Dr. Harper is the author of over 15 scholarly articles, which span the fields of psychometrics, electronic communication, assessment, and budget and planning.
