جامعة بيت لحم
Harris attained his doctorate from Harvard University in 1977, under supervision of Barry Mazur. His thesis, entitled "On "p"-Adic Representations Arising from Descent on Abelian Varieties", was later published in "Compositio Mathematica". Before arriving at Columbia University he held permanent positions at Brandeis University and Université Paris-Diderot; he has also held extended visiting positions at Bethlehem University, the Steklov Institute of Mathematics, and the Institut des Hautes-Études Scientifiques.