Jamaal A. Harrison

Jamaal A. Harrison is a Ph.D. Candidate in Florida State University’s higher education program, from Laurinburg, North Carolina. He is also a Graduate Research Assistant in the Center for Postsecondary Success (CPS) and Gubernatorial Fellow at the Department of Juvenile Justice. Prior to working with CPS, Jamaal earned both of his bachelor’s degrees in Organizational Behavior and Media Communication at North Carolina State University (NC State) in Raleigh, North Carolina. He furthered his graduate education at NC State, earning his master’s in higher education (organization focus) and graduate certificate in Teaching, Training, and Educational Technology. Jamaal became interested in pursuing higher education after traveling to Ghana, West Africa where he studied higher education disparities among young adults at the University of Ghana (Legon). His research interests include African American familial socialization on Black students’ loan debt, and the historical effects the Transatlantic Slave Trade has had on modern-day African American students, and education systems. His wider interests include critical race theory, the fragility of masculinity, and developmental education. His dissertation work will focus on what role familial financial socialization plays in the amount of debt Black students accumulate during their undergraduate career. Jamaal is a recipient of the NCORE College of Continuing Education scholarship, Florida Torchbearers Society, Hardee Fellow, FSU Fellows Society, and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Furthermore, he continues to speak to African American males throughout the United States about equity and access in hopes of increasing this population’s college admission rates. Upon graduation, Jamaal plans on moving to the Philadelphia to do work concerning urban policy development.