Kirk Harris
Dr. Kirk E. Harris is a faculty member in the Department of Urban Planning, School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Dr. Harris has been working on issues related to families and communities for 20 years, as a Legal Services lawyer, a non-profit executive, a community advocate, and as a national keynote speaker. During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Dr. Harris served on then Sen. Obama’s Metropolitan and Urban Policy Committee, charged with managing the campaign's public policy platform. For four years, Dr. Harris served as the national facilitator for the National Fatherhood Leaders Group, a consortium of the country’s leading fatherhood organizations. In addition to that role, Dr. Harris has worked closely with White House staff of the Obama administration and other national leaders on issues related to fathers and families. Dr. Harris is considered a national expert in the areas of public policy related to responsible fatherhood, family support practice, community building and development, parent-engagement and leadership and anti-poverty strategies. In his capacity as a national expert, Dr. Harris has testified before Congress on issues related to fatherhood, family strengthening and community building.
Amongst his most recent publications, Dr. Harris is a contributor to a book on the Hope VI project, published by the Urban Institute, entitled, “Public Housing and the Legacy of Segregation.” Dr. Harris' chapter entitled, Fathers from the Family to the Fringe: Practice, Policy, and Public Housing examines how service delivery practices and public policy limit father engagement and involvement within their families in the context of public housing.
Dr Harris is the President/CEO of Parent and Community Technology and Law Center (PACT Law Center), which is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit corporation that seeks to promote and advance family strengthening and community building through strategic partnerships and collaborations. PACT Law Center seeks to leverage web-based technology to demonstrate the power of and model the possibilities of virtual non-profit operations that can efficiently and cost-effectively bring to scale social solutions by improving the social justice agenda setting and organizing capacity of communities, constituencies and/or concerned stakeholders.
Also an advocate for youth development, Dr. Harris is the Founder of the School for Urban Planning and Architecture (SUPAR), a project-based charter high school that is linked to the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. SUPAR serves urban youth by connecting them to a project-based learning environment that engages students in new ways, with the objective of enhancing student retention and high school completion rates, thus enabling students to pursue post-secondary educational and training opportunities that allow them to secure their future. The Wisconsin Daily Reporter named Dr. Harris Architectural Leader and Newsmaker of the Year for his work related to the charter school.
Dr. Harris possesses a master of public administration degree from the Martin School of Public Policy and Public Administration, University of Kentucky, a law degree from Thomas Jefferson Law School and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr Harris is a member of the Georgia, Washington, DC and US Supreme Court Bars.