Joyce Harris has won the 2016 Outstanding Service to Oregon award given annually by the University of Oregon Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management and the department’s advisory council. Harris, along with Danielle Arigoni and Courtney Griesel, will be honored in a ceremony on May 19 on the University of Oregon campus.

The University of Oregon article announcing the award called Harris an educator, speaker, writer, workshop trainer, facilitator, community activist, and advocate for justice and fairness.

"I’ve dedicated my personal and professional life to working to improve the lives of children, youth, and the communities who have historically been denied access to equitable and high-quality educational experiences and outcomes," Harris says.

Before coming to Education Northwest more than 20 years ago, she served as an administrator at the Black Educational Center, a school she co-founded in Portland, OR from 1980-93. Her teaching experiences include serving a science teacher through OMSI and as an instructor in a Portland Public Schools program for racially and culturally diverse talented and gifted students. Her off-hours work with survivors of Hurricane Katrina led to Portland Monthly recognizing her as one of the 25 people who most define Portland.

On behalf of everyone at Education Northwest, we congratulate Joyce Harris on this honor.

Watch this video of Joyce Harris from on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and the Mississippi Freedom Summer that includes advice for educators on the value of teaching about the Civil Rights Movement.