Jon Harbor has been appointed to serve as Purdue Global’s interim chancellor, beginning Jan. 1, assuming the role previously held by Frank Dooley.
Harbor served as Purdue Global provost from August 2020 to January 2024 and since has been senior advisor to Purdue University Provost Patrick Wolfe.
“Purdue Global is excited to have Jon Harbor serve as interim chancellor. With his expertise in online education, Dr. Harbor will guide us as we innovate and prepare our students for success in the classroom, workplace and beyond,” said Chris Ruhl, Purdue Global’s interim CEO.
“I am passionate about the impact that Purdue Global has on transforming the lives of working adults through innovative online education,” Harbor said. “It is exciting to be joining this amazing team of faculty and staff who are dedicated to excellence in student success and who are developing and growing affordable and accessible programs well matched to emerging employer needs.”
Harbor came to Purdue’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences in 1994 and served the university as a professor of environmental geosciences, department head, founding co-director of the Discovery Learning Research Center, associate vice president for research, interim dean of the College of Science and in several other leadership roles. His research and education initiatives have resulted in over 150 peer-reviewed journal publications and three books and have been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and international research foundations. As executive director of digital education and associate vice provost for teaching and learning from 2015-18, Harbor oversaw significant expansion of Purdue’s online degrees, certificates and instructional development support.
From 2018-20 Harbor was executive vice president and provost at the University of Montana.
Harbor is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of American Geographers and the Royal Geographical Society. He has served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar (New Zealand) and a European Union Marie Curie fellow (Sweden). Harbor’s leadership training included a yearlong fellowship with the American Council on Education.
