John Harcourt Alexander Morgan (August 31, 1867 – August 25, 1950) was a Canadian-American entomologist, educator, and agricultural expert, who served as president of the University of Tennessee from 1919 until 1934. In 1933, he was appointed to the inaugural board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, with which he remained until 1948, including three years (1938–1941) as chairman. In both capacities, he promoted a philosophy known as "the common mooring," which stressed a harmonious relationship between man and the environment, and consistently worked to introduce more efficient and less destructive farming techniques in the Tennessee Valley.

Morgan was born in 1867 and raised by his parents Rebecca (née Truman) and John Morgan on a farm near Kerwood in Adelaide Township, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto's Ontario Agricultural College, earning his Bachelor of Science in 1889. He briefly attended Cornell University and conducted research at the Marine Biological Laboratory before accepting a position as professor of entomology at Louisiana State University.

At LSU, Morgan studied two parasitical insects, the cattle tick and the cotton boll weevil, both of which had proven destructive to farmers in the state. Camping out in pastures and cotton fields, Morgan collected invaluable data on the habits of both insects that finally enabled scientists to get their populations under control. But the boll weevil infested cotton crops throughout the South in the early 20th century, causing much destruction and costing countless agricultural jobs. Morgan's role in fighting the cattle tick and boll weevil infestations endeared him to many of the state's farmers and gained the respect of regional agricultural experts.

After getting established in teaching and research, Morgan married Sara Elizabeth Fay. They had four children together: Harcourt Jr.; John, Fay, and Lucy.

In 1904, the University of Tennessee hired Tulane professor Brown Ayres as president. While living in Louisiana, Ayres had become familiar with Morgan's work, and invited him to join U.T.'s faculty as professor of entomology and zoology, and director of the school's agricultural experimental station. In 1913, Morgan was named Dean of the school's College of Agriculture. Morgan shared Ayres' view that the university's extension services were as important as the school's teaching mission, as they believed that many of the South's agricultural problems were due to lack of information among the region's farmers.

During this period, Morgan developed a philosophy known as "the common mooring," which stressed a harmonious relationship between man and the environment, and taught that human endeavors should align with the demands of nature. Morgan believed that the South's overemphasis on commodity row crops such as cotton and tobacco, which were harmful to the soil, threw this relationship out of balance. He held numerous demonstrations and exhibits that encouraged area farmers to practice crop rotation, replace row crops with soil-enriching grasses, clovers, and legumes, avoid planting corn on hill slopes (a practice in which many East Tennessee mountain farmers were adept), and improve eroded pastures with lime and phosphate.

Morgan's extension work earned him the trust of Tennessee's farmers, which in turn brought influence among the state's politicians. This proved critical at a time when the state's three Grand Divisions still harbored Civil War-era animosities. Many state politicians disliked the idea that East Tennessee, which had been sympathetic to the Union, was the site of the state's land-grant institution. In 1915, Morgan convinced Governor Tom Rye to approve a one million dollar appropriation for the university.

During World War I, Morgan was appointed as the state of Tennessee's Food Administrator.