Mark Harrington, EdD | Canisius University

AVP, Student Success & Retention / Program Director, MS-Higher Education Administration / Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership

Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration

Ed.D., Higher Education Leadership - Regis College
M.S., College Student Personnel Administration - Canisius University
M.S., Sport Administration - Canisius University
B.A., Counseling & Health Psychology - Emmanuel College
Certificate, Diversity & Inclusion - University of South Florida
Certificate, Mission Integration - University of San Diego

(716) 888-2937

Office

Old Main 318 (Student Success Office) / Churchill Tower 1109 (Faculty Office)

Linkedin,

Dr. Harrington is a faculty-administrator serving the Canisius community as Assistant Vice President for Student Success, faculty director of the Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration (HESAA) master's program, chair of the retention committee, an assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership, and a member of the President's Leadership Council. Learn more about the student academic offices, resources, and services here. Meet the student academic success team here.

Dr. Harrington teaches courses in higher education organizational leadership and management, strategic planning, student success, assessment and research, counseling and advising, financial management, as well as independent research and seminars. Additionally, Dr. Harrington oversees all internship and practicum experiences for the HESAA program. Within the campus community, Dr. Harrington is the Chair the university-wide Retention Committee, founder and advisor for Tri-Delta first-generation honor society, and was elected by his faculty colleagues to serve as a voting member of the Academic Program Board. Dr. Harrington has successfully implemented many high-impact practices fostering student academic success including first-year experience, transfer student initiatives, student success teams, pre-college programs, and academic success courses.

For the last 15 years, he has been an educator and advocate for student success in positions within academic affairs, advancement and alumni relations, and student life at Regis College, Emmanuel College, Merrimack College, Loyola University New Orleans, and the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Harrington has also served as a faculty member and trip leader for service-immersion experiences domestically and internationally. He has a strong commitment to college access and has served on the Board of Directors at Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School and Mission Grammar School.

Dr. Mark Harrington earned his bachelor’s degree from Emmanuel College in Counseling and Health Psychology, master’s degrees in College Student Personnel and Sport Administration from Canisius University, and doctorate in Higher Education Leadership from Regis College. His dissertation was entitled “Leadership and Mission: Understanding the Relationship Between Leadership Orientations and Mission Perception Among Executive Administrators in Catholic Higher Education.” He has participated in international leadership development experiences including the Institute for Administrators in Catholic Higher Education at Boston College and the Education Leaders Roundtable at the University of Oxford.

Courses Taught

FYE 101: First Year Experience
SOC 100: The Architecture of Identity-Finding Your Purpose in Society
HESA 501: Introduction to Student Affairs Administration
HESA 535: Assessment and Advanced Research
HESA 599: Independent Study
HESA 620: Counseling and Advising for Student Success
HESA 677: Capstone: Higher Education Leadership and Management
HESA 680: Internship 1
HESA 681: Internship 2
HESA 690: Special Topics in Higher Education
HESA 698: Comprehensive Seminar

Awards and Recognition

Academic Excellence Award: Outstanding Doctoral Student
Regis College

Best Paper Award
International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research (IOSSBR) Global Conference

Class Leadership Award
Emmanuel College

College Student Personnel Administration Community Development Award
Canisius University

Distinguished Service to the Profession Award
College Student Personnel Administration-New York State (CSPA-NYS)

Eminence in Mentorship Award
College Student Personnel Administration-New York State (CSPA-NYS)

Ignatian Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Jesuit Student Affairs
Jesuit Association for Student Affairs Administrators (JASPA)

Jennifer Grace Ford Campus Leadership Award
Emmanuel College

Leadership in Action Award
Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society

Mission Integration Award
Association of Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASACCU)

Scholarship Excellence Award
Jesuit Association for Student Affairs Administrators (JASPA)

Select Presentations and Publications

*Harrington, M. (2024). Meeting in the middle: Faculty perspectives on the state of graduate preparation and entry to the profession. About Campus, 29(1).

Harrington, M. (2023, October 23-26). From pilot to full implementation: Utilization of pilot programs to showcase impact on student success to gain leadership support and initiative funding [Conference session]. The National Symposium on Student Retention, New Orleans, LA, United States.

Harrington, M. (2023, October 15-17). Creating and implementing student success initiatives with an equity-minded lens [Conference session]. The College Student Personnel Association of New York State (CSPA-NYS) Annual Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY, United States.

Harrington, M. (2023, October 15-17). Strategy and student success: Using data and a retention predictive model to shift from a reactive to a proactive campus [Conference session]. The College Student Personnel Association of New York State (CSPA-NYS) Annual Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY, United States.

Halligan-Avery, E. & Harrington, M. (2023, April 1-5). Connecting students to mental health resources leveraging the cloud [Conference session]. National Association of Student Personnel Administrators National Conference, Boston, MA, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, October 24-27). Reimagining a campus-wide retention committee: Developing an effective working retention committee based upon our retention predictive model [Conference session]. The National Symposium on Student Retention, San Diego, CA, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, October 24-27). Stay golden, griffins: SOARing into a comprehensive and inclusive student success and retention model [Conference session]. The National Symposium on Student Retention, San Diego, CA, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, October 16-18). Leading divisional renovation: Assessing, innovating, and partnering to build a culture of student success [Conference session]. The College Student Personnel Association of New York State (CSPA-NYS) Annual Conference, Binghamton, NY, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, July 14-16). Go forth and set the world on fire with a career in higher education and student affairs [Conference session]. National Jesuit Student Leadership Conference, Baltimore, MD, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, July 10-13). Re-envisioning student success and retention in American higher education: Creating student-centered environments of belonging, support, and persistence [Paper presentation]. International Round Table Symposium, Oxford, England, United Kingdom.

Harrington, M. & Wilson, A. (2022, June 20-22). Bridging the great divide: From professional preparation to supervisor expectations [Conference session]. National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Conference, Niagara Falls, NY, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, March 15-16). The academic impact of support programs and systems for students placed at-risk during the transition to college [Paper presentation]. International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research (IOSSBR) Global Conference, New Orleans, LA, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, February 16). Reimaging institution-wide student success and retention: Using data, assessment, and conversation to create an inclusive and best-practices model [Conference session]. WNY Advising Annual Conference, Virtual, NY, United States.

Harrington, M. (2022, January 28). Mission Grammar School utilizes the 7 themes of Catholic social teaching as a map to ensure scholars are on the road to college! The Boston Pilot.

Harrington, M. (2021, October 18–21). Improving student achievement in higher education: Implementation of a strategic support system to increase student persistence and academic success [Conference session]. The College Student Personnel Association of New York State (CSPA-NYS) Annual Conference, Virtual, NY, United States.

Harrington, M. (2021, September 24). Five Years of Campus Improvement at Mission Grammar School. The Boston Pilot.

Harrington, M. (2018, February 23–25). Building effective campus partnerships for first year student success [Conference session]. Association for Orientation, Transition and Retention in Higher Education (NODA) Conference, Burlington, VT, United States.

Harrington, M. (2016, April 27–29). Leadership and mission: Understanding the relationship among leadership orientations and mission perception of executive administrators in Catholic higher education [Poster presentation]. New England Educational Research Organization (NEERO) Annual Conference, Portsmouth, NH, United States.

Harrington, M. (2015, May 29). Our Lady of Perpetual Help -- Mission Grammar School at 125. The Boston Pilot.

Harrington, M. (2013, July 23–26). Best practices for mission integration: The 1804 Society [Conference session]. The Association of Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASACCU) National Conference, Washington, DC, United States.

Harrington, M., Kohler, C., & Troup, R. (2010, March 21–24). Jesuit pedagogy as a framework for programming and assessment [Conference session]. The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) National Conference, Boston, MA, United States.

Harrington, M. (2010, February 26–28). Living a life for and with others: The importance of servant leadership for a better tomorrow. [Keynote address]. The Buffalo Youth Convention, Buffalo, NY, United States.

*Forthcoming publications and presentations