EdD in Adult Higher Education, Nova Southeastern University
MA in Communication, Spring Arbor University
MMin in Pastoral Ministries, Bethel University
BA in Christian Ministries, Indiana Wesleyan University
Dr. Richard C. Harris joined Southeastern University in 2003, serving in administration and teaching for the Barnett College of Ministry & Theology and College of Education before joining Jannetides College of Business, Communication & Leadership where he teaches human communication and serves as lead professor of public speaking. Before SEU, he taught speech and persuasion at Purdue University.
Dr. Harris is known for his earlier years as Grand Dragon of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. An avowed white supremacist, he committed his life to Christ in 1978, renouncing racism and the Klan. He recounts this transformation in his memoir, One Nation Under CURSE, winner of the 2012 Reader's Favorite Award for religion/philosophy.
His 2023 TEDx Bradenton talk sparked his research focus, Formational Reconciliation Communication™ (FRC), a framework he founded and teaches. FRC integrates Christian spiritual formation, psychology, and communication competence to reduce bias, regulate conflict, and build trust across racial, political, generational, theological, and cultural difference. It rests on the Three Universal Longings — Belonging, Dignity, and Meaning — operationalized through the six-framework Harris Transformation Path™, used by students, pastors, educators, and leaders navigating division. His motto: "People can change. Changed people can change society."
A national thought leader in racial harmony, Dr. Harris co-led the February 2017 Congressional Gracism Forum on Racial Reconciliation at the U.S. Capitol and was recognized for his bridge-building work following a presidential address at the National Prayer Breakfast Leadership Caucus. In 2021, Faith & Prejudice awarded him the Dr. Clarence B. Jones Wintertime Soldier Award for "forty-plus years of significant contributions promoting racial equity throughout the church and nation."
Dr. Harris served 31 years as a Senior Pastor in the Free Methodist Church – USA and currently serves as Associate Pastor at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, an historic African-American congregation in Bartow, Florida.