Harper Haynes

Harper’s research interests broadly focus on institutional practices and policies that can influence economic, racial and gendered disparities in K-16 educational outcomes. The relationship between research and application has fueled much of Harper’s academic career, from improving the efficacy of a local interpersonal violence shelter with evidence-based practices as an undergraduate, to a master’s thesis examining the ways in which the elite college environment can affect the identity of first-generation students and their likelihood of graduation. Currently, Harper is coordinating a community-based research project along with leaders in Iowa City’s public school district. This project will ultimately result in intervention recommendations to reduce racial inequity of disciplinary actions and academic outcomes in the local schools.