He was Dean of the College of the Arts from 1988 to 1997. Harris earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Music from the University of Michigan. He completed further studies at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Centre Francais d’Humanisme Musical in Aix-en-Provence. He studied with Ross Lee Finney, Max Deutsch, Nadia Boulanger, Boris Blacher, Lukas Foss, and Andre Jolivet.