L. Wesley Harris Jr., Ph.D. (he/they) is founder and owner of Black Gravity Educational Consulting. He is an experienced scholar-activist, educator, and organizer who is committed to justice and equity. Dr. Harris has presented at dozens of national, regional, and local conferences and published several articles in higher education and student affairs journals. He is a sought after speaker/facilitator for community organizations, educational institutions, and private corporations.

Dr. Harris’ professional experiences include multicultural affairs, academic coaching, community engagement, athletic coaching, and school counseling in K-12 and postsecondary contexts. His scholarship employs critical qualitative research methodologies to explore (in)equity in higher education while his teaching, facilitation, and praxis also involve understanding the connections between the individual and institutional to build coalitions to act in solidarity with others across difference. Ultimately, Dr. Harris strives to educate, engage, and empower students, institutions, organizations, and communities through their collaborations.

He is an alumnus of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Dr. Harris is a first generation college graduate who earned both a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in Counseling from Wake Forest University, where he was a student athlete. Most recently, he completed a Ph.D. in Education (Higher Education Administration) at Iowa State University and his dissertation explored Black undergraduate students’ development of critical consciousness. Dr. Harris is originally from the Kingville community in Albemarle, North Carolina and currently lives in Ames, Iowa with his partner and their 3 children.