Vernon B. Harper Jr. was appointed president of CSU Bakersfield in September 2024. He had been serving as the university’s interim president since December 2023 following the retirement of President Lynnette Zelezny.

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.

Read President Harper's full biography​.

Education

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