Harbor named director of digital education and associate vice provost
July 20, 2015
Jon Harbor has been named director of digital education and associate vice provost for teaching and learning, effective Aug. 1.
He will report to Frank Dooley, vice provost for teaching and learning. In his new position, Harbor will provide long-term vision and oversight of Purdue's digital education (online courses and programs), as well as leadership for undergraduate programs serving the entire campus. He will also have administrative oversight for the Entrepreneurship Center, Exploratory Studies, Learning Communities, Undergraduate Academic Advising, and Summer Session. Harbor will work closely with the provost and vice provost on matters concerning academic policy development and resource allocation to support program initiatives.
Harbor came to Purdue in 1984 and has held a range of administrative positions at the university level, including serving as associate vice president for research for centers and institutes, interim dean of the College of Science, and founding co-director of Purdue's Discovery Learning Research Center.
In 2013, he completed concurrent terms as head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue and as the first director of the University’s Global Sustainability Institute. He then spent a year as a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow at Stockholm University.
Harbor has co-authored over 130 journal papers, three books, and over 30 book chapters and conference papers. His research interests are in applied hydrology, environmental education, and glacial geology, and he currently co-directs two multinational research teams.
Harbor is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (U.K.). He has received both the Murphy Teaching Award and the Provost’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor.
Harbor earned his bachelor's degree from University of Cambridge, his master's degree from University of Colorado and his PhD from University of Washington.
