Academic Administrator Tapped for AASCU Department Chair Leadership Institute

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 7, 2026) – A rising academic administrator at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is included in the new 2026 cohort of the national Department Chair Leadership Institute produced by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the organization announced today.

Kimberly C. Harper, Ph.D., is one of 37 participants in the first of two cohorts for 2026. Participants come from institutions across the country, including multiple state universities in California, Florida, New York and Texas, as well as North Carolina. Each were nominated by their chancellor, president, provost or dean and were chosen from a competitive national pool of nominees.

Harper, who serves as chair of the N.C. A&T Department of English and holds the academic rank of associate professor, has worked at A&T since 2015. She previously served as director of the Foreign Language Institute at Albany State University for nearly six years.

Harper is an A&T alumna, having earned her bachelor’s degree from the same academic department she now leads. She completed her master’s degree at Miami University and Ph.D. at East Carolina University, both in in technical and scientific communication.

Harper is also an author, having published “The Ethos of Black Motherhood in America: Only White Women Get Pregnant” (Lexington Studies in Health Communication) in 2020. The book has been described by critics as “an essential study in the history and rhetoric of Black women’s maternal health care” and an “exposé of the problems Black women face in their medical care.”

AASCU says the Department Chair Leadership Institute “is designed for department chairs who serve at state colleges and universities and aspire to be dynamic, strategic and empathetic leaders.” The program ensures participants gain “a national perspective on the importance of the department chair in serving the institutional mission, delivering value and ensuring student success.”