[5] Harker was named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation in 1986 and as a White House Fellow by President George H.W.
He was a senior fellow at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center and held a secondary appointment as a professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at Penn.
[8] When he was named UPS Transportation Professor of the Private Sector in 1991, Dr. Harker became the youngest faculty member in Wharton’s history awarded an endowed professorship.
[7] In May 2008, Dr. Harker unveiled a sweeping strategic plan, UD’s Path to Prominence, predicated on excellence in undergraduate, graduate and professional education, environmental leadership, global engagement and service to the community.
Future development of this campus is designed to establish it as a center of innovation, focused on leading research in areas such as health science, cybersecurity and alternative energy.
In 2012, Dr. Harker was named a charter fellow of the National Academy of Inventors[16] for his outstanding personal contributions to innovation and for facilitating and nurturing patents, licensing and commercialization for the purpose of economic development for the University and the state of Delaware.
In December 2014, his commentary, "Making Sense of Higher Education's Future: An Economics and Operations Perspective," was published in Service Science.
[19] He served on the boards of Christiana Care Health Systems, First State Innovation, Catholic Relief Services, Easter Seals of Delaware, Decision Lens, Pepco Holdings, Huntsman Corp. and The Minerva Project, as well as many other community and nonprofit groups.
Harker, who had served as a nonbanking Class B director of the Philadelphia Fed for the past three years, succeeded Charles Plosser, who retired effective March 1, 2015.