Vernon B. Harper Jr. was appointed interim president of CSU Bakersfield in September 2023.

Harper previously served as the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs for the university. As provost, he oversaw all academic units and programming, including faculty development and promotion, enrollment and retention of students, program review, innovation, research, policy and select university partnerships.

Prior to his appointment as provost in 2019, Harper served in a variety of senior leadership roles in academic administration at CSUB, West Chester University and Wilkes University. Throughout his career, he has made student success and faculty productivity his focus. Harper's grounding as an administrator comes from over two decades of commitment to institutional achievement through collaboration.

Harper served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and is the recipient of the U.S. Army Achievement Medal and the Martin Luther King Unity Award.​

Education

B.A., Communication, Pennsylvania State University
M.A., Rhetoric and Communication, West Chester University
Ph.D., Human Communication, Howard University​