Before we exchanged pleasantries, she greeted me with a bright smile, a soft gaze and a tight hug. She held me for a few moments longer than I expected. It felt like reconnecting with my grandmother and the older women in my family. In a way, I knew her character before she formally introduced herself.
Professionally, Pamela Cheryl Higgins Harris is an advisory consultant on the Equity and Excellence Board for the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium. The MAEC is an education-based non-profit that supports student learning for families, schools and districts by providing personalized resources. Higgins Harris also proudly highlighted her identity as a Black alumna of American University and her work with the Black Alumni Organization.
Higgins Harris, also fondly known as Rainbow or Grandma Rainbow, describes herself as many things — a lifelong learner, a sweetheart and a wife. The concept of lineage, traditions and passing down heritage are foundational principles in Higgins Harris’s identity and scholarly practice.
Both Higgins Harris and her husband, Tyrone “Ty” Harris, deeply value the work they do as alumni of the University. For Pamela Higgins Harris, being an alumnus is more than walking across the graduation stage. It’s getting to shake the hands of those who come after.
“We have a dedication across affinity groups to participating in and engaging in whatever translates into community and belonging,” Higgins Harris said.
Higgin Harris’ journey at American University started in 1968 when she was known as Pamela Cheryl Higgins. She would become Higgins Harris after marrying her college sweetheart in the Kay Spiritual Life Center. Compared to the other schools in the D.C. metropolitan area, she said she vividly remembers American University standing out to her.
“American was not a place that we really know about, and yet, that was the place that drew me because they wanted to personalize who they were seeing on paper,” Higgins Harris said.
Individualization was a huge drawing point to the University for her. She felt that they were making their best efforts to support her needs as a person, rather than the traditional metrics of test scores and letters of recommendation.
“American University turned out to be a pearl,” Higgin Harris said.
In Black elder fashion, Higgins Harris brought her doctorate, graduation cap and stole, with the commencement booklet in tow. Next to her name and dissertation title was a special, ornamental symbol noting her “Family of Eagles” status. Her family has produced four graduates from American University, each distinguished with academic honors and excellency.
During the interview, Tyrone affectionately told us the long legacy of scholarship and connection his family had to the University. With two JDs, one MD and one PhD, Tyrone was proud to add Pamela to the line with her EdD from the School of Education in May 2025.
Higgins Harris’s dissertation, or scholarly testimony as she liked to call it, was titled, “Revolving Revelations—Reigniating the Power of One from Within.” She said her testimony is about how building connections with others allows her to build a better relationship with herself.
Higgins Harris said her scholarly work gives language to how cultural exchange can create a social framework for intergenerational education and community. Translating that work to her personal life, Higgins Harris said when she got married she still wanted to ensure that all of her family was represented in her name.
“I don’t use a hyphen, my parents are so much a part of who you see. Anytime I come into a room, you are greeting me, and you are greeting my husband and my family,” Higgins Harris said.
Higgins Harris said she values intergenerational experiences and how it deepens her sense of self. Her philosophy is based on acknowledging where someone has come from in their lineage when working with someone.
Higgins Harris anchors every interaction she can with ancestral traditions of old African wisdom— calling on the Zulu greeting of “Sawubona,” which roughly translates to, “I see you.”
This simple greeting emphasizes the sentiment of seeing others fully and holding space for their existence. Higgins Harris said she values inspiring others through wisdom, humanity and worth.
Higgins Harris made a deliberate point to assure me, and the entire body of current Black students attending the University, that she wants to incorporate youth voice and experience into how she strengthens her alumni activism.
“Let that collaboration become a guide to the way I lead or the way that I collaborate or the way that I mentor,” Higgins Harris said.
Higgins Harris said Black and African Diasporic organizations on this campus such as OASATAU, The Office of Inclusive Excellence, or the AU Black Alumni Alliance, create space for culture, knowledge, intergenerational exchange and preservation.
According to Higgins Harris, intergenerational mentorship is the reason she shared her story about how American University changed her life in ways she couldn’t imagine. Anecdotally, she shared wisdom about the importance of never forgetting your roots and those who stood by you during the early days.
Walking down into the Terrace Dining Room, there’s a wall that features a collage of pictures of students across generations at the University. More specifically, a picture of the Black Student Union can be found in the bottom left corner— Pamela and Ty were able to identify all the members showcased in the image, smiling, cracking jokes and mentioning how they still keep in touch with everybody.
Pamela’s final story to me was about her nickname, Rainbow. First coined by her husband on their 20th wedding anniversary, Rainbow is now used across the alumni association, faculty and students — becoming a moniker for her expansive way of living. The world is too momentous to confine it to a finite way of thinking, Higgins Harris said.
“By the time I am coming forth with either the belief system or what I want to teach or what I think is a teachable moment, it is a rainbow of knowledge that informs that,” Higgins Harris said.
Higgins Harris has turned her student activism into alumni activism and embodies a changemaking spirit that adapts to the times. Higgins Harris said she refuses the idea of intellectual isolation in the ivory tower of academia, as she refers to it, by encouraging others to remember that they are never alone.
While American University uses E Pluribus Unum as its motto, Higgins Harris prefers to quote Maya Angelou and her poem, “Our Grandmothers,” “I come as one, but I stand for ten thousand.”
“The most impactful gift that we can give to others is to engage in self-transformation from the inside out; it’s going to include certainly who we are, but also who our family is, who our ancestors are, and the truth and core values integral to those connections,” Higgins Harris said.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly named AU Black Alumni Alliance as Black Alumni Alliance. It has since been updated with the correct name.
This article was edited by Olive Redd, Payton Anderson and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Arin Burrell, Ryan Sieve and Nicole Kariuki.
