Walter Harris
Director of the Center for Research and Evaluation
Professor of Education, College of Education and Human Development
Professor Walter Harris earned his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1973 and came to University of Maine the same year. He joined a small special education faculty at the beginning of a truly major national reform in the education of special needs children. His expertise in behavioral disorders and emotionally disturbed children added strength to the graduate programs designed to prepare special educators. He also proved to be a successful grant writer which helped keep the programs afloat during lean times. Walter has held several positions in his 35 years in the College including, Professor of Special Education, Coordinator of the Special Education area, Associate Dean of Instruction for 15 years, and Director of the Center for Research and Evaluation and Co-Director of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute since 1999.
Walter is a skilled teacher and students consistently rated him as excellent. He is respected for his knowledge, his quiet enthusiasm and his concern for student learning. As one colleague wrote when Walter taught regularly: “Probably the greatest testament to Walt’s teaching, continues to be the consistent inquiry by many students to seek out Walt Harris as an instructor, regardless of the particular course which he is teaching”.
Throughout his career, Walter has been extremely active in the service area. Early on he was appointed to the Governors’ Committee on Children and Youth, Chairperson of the University of Maine Exceptional Child Research Institute and consultant to the State Department of Educational and Cultural Services. He has been a keynote speaker or workshop director for dozens and dozens of educational and community organization events as well as a consultant to numerous school systems.
Walter’s research focused on special education concepts and issues including implementing resource programs in rural schools, comparing the effectiveness of different delivery systems for special needs children and developing and field-testing a screening instrument for identifying and discriminating between children with potential learning disabilities. As Director of the Center for Research and Evaluation he responds to the research and evaluation needs and interests of education leaders, policy makers and faculty. He is also involved in many research investigations such as the funding of special education, teacher workload and the statewide structure and funding of vocational education programs. He is either the project director or directly supervises projects that approximate $495,000 annually.
During his tenure as Associate Dean of Instruction, Walter demonstrated his skills as a visionary manager and enjoyed the high respect of the faculty, the classified staff, and administrator colleagues because of the thoroughness, careful planning, creativity and humor with which he approached his tasks and his unflappable and caring nature.
Throughout Walter’s first 35 years here, he has unselfishly shared his time and his many areas of expertise with students, colleagues, public school personnel, State policy makers and many more individuals and groups. The College of Education and Human Development and University thank you for all your valued contributions.