D. SCOTT THARP, PH.D., M.S.W.

ABOUT SCOTT

I have worked in higher education for over fifteen years with a focus on social justice education, learning assessment, and program evaluation. I believe that society requires data-informed educational interventions to address structural and systemic barriers to social justice. As a scholar-practitioner, my research focuses on all aspects of social justice education, including curriculum design, facilitation, and assessment. I currently serve the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) community as the Director for Academic Program Review and Assessment where I oversee academic program review for all academic programs and centers, as well as learning assessment for both the general education program and all academic programs. Previously, I served DePaul University community as the Assessment & Effectiveness Specialist for the Division of Student Affairs where I oversaw cocurricular assessment, evaluation, and measurement processes. I also served DePaul as Associate Director within the former Center for Intercultural Programs where I oversaw the Center's curricular social justice education program and workshop initiatives, created and facilitated diversity and social justice education workshops for students, faculty, staff, and community partners, and coordinated a new online education initiative. Before that, I served as the Program Coordinator in the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at Columbia College Chicago.
​
I am an active scholar-practitioner who has published scholarly articles in the Journal of Transformative Education, Multicultural Education, Multicultural Perspectives, and Whiteness in Education. Additionally, I am the author of two books, Doing Social Justice Education: A Practitioner's Guide for Workshops and Structured Conversations (2020), and Decoding Privilege: Exploring White College Students' Views on Social Inequality (2022). 

I also am engaged in supporting practitioners. I am a regularly invited speaker at NCORE - the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education, where I also served on the National Advisory Committee for NCORE from 2014-2017. I also currently serve as an Assessment Mentor for the Higher Learning Commission's Assessment Academy. Lastly, I previously served as a regional representative and then the Co-Chair of the Professional Development Committee with the Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Knowledge Community within NASPA Students Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.