
Sarah Parker Harris
Professor, Associate Head
Director of Graduate Studies
Disability and Human Development
Contact
Building & Room:
DHSP, room 209-B
Address:
1640 W. Roosevelt Rd, Chicago
Email:
About
Dr. Parker Harris is a Professor, Associate Head, and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her interdisciplinary areas of scholarship include Disability Studies, Social Policy, and Sociology. She is experienced in qualitative research methods, mixed methods systematic review, knowledge translation practices, program evaluation, and social policy analysis. Her research crosscuts areas of disability studies, employment and workplace inclusion, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, comparative social policies, civil rights laws, international human rights, social justice theories, knowledge translation, community participation, and access and inclusion. She teaches courses in disability studies theories, disability laws and policies, and research methodologies, and has mentored over 60 PhD and MS students in interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary areas of Disability Studies. Dr. Parker Harris currently works on several federally funded five-year grants, including the ADA National Network Knowledge Translation Center, the ADA National Network Great Lakes ADA Center, Promoting Entrepreneurship among Low–Income Youth with Disabilities, the Illinois University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and the Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities Program. Through her interdisciplinary research and collaborations, she is widely published with peer reviewed articles, chapters, edited books, reports, research briefs, infographics, including as co-author of Disability Through the Lifecourse, and Disability in American Life: An Encyclopedia of Concepts, Policies, and Controversies. Dr. Parker Harris has led efforts to create numerous new academic programs and curricula in Disability Studies with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity, and has won eleven university awards for her teaching, mentoring, and academic administration, including most recently "Professor of the Year".
Selected Grants
National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, Rehabilitation and Research, Agency on Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services (NIDILRR), ADA National Network Knowledge Translation Center, Co-Principal Investigator
National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, Rehabilitation and Research, Agency on Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services (NIDILRR), ADA National Network Regional Center-V, Co-Investigator
Selected Publications
Education
PhD, Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney, Australia
Bachelor of Arts (Majors: Sociology, Social Policy, and Psychology), Honors Class I, University of Sydney, Australia