As promised in our previous post on the selection of James B. Milliken as the new UC president, we have now preserved the recording of the May 2 session of the Regents where he was appointed at:
https://archive.org/details/board_202505.
The official announcement:
The University of California Board of Regents... approved the appointment of James B. Milliken as the 22nd president of UC’s world-renowned system of 10 campuses, six academic health centers, and three nationally affiliated laboratories.
A seasoned higher education leader, Milliken has been serving as the chancellor of the University of Texas (UT) system since 2018. His distinguished career also includes serving as chancellor of The City University of New York (CUNY) from 2014 to 2018, president of the University of Nebraska from 2004 to 2014, and senior vice president at the University of North Carolina from 1998 to 2004.
“The University of California is universally regarded as the preeminent public research university in the world, and I am deeply honored to have an opportunity to join the many talented faculty, staff, and campus leaders in their vital work. It is more important than ever that we expand the education, research, health care, and public service for which UC is so widely admired and which has benefited so many Californians,” said Milliken.
Guided by his commitment to expanding opportunity and student success, Milliken has been a leader in expanding access to higher education for low-income students. At UT, he led a bold initiative to cover the full cost of tuition and fees for qualifying students whose families have incomes under $100,000. Milliken’s leadership at UT also includes record-setting enrollment levels, low college debt, and almost $5 billion in annual research expenditures, ranking second in the nation. The UT system’s health enterprise, with seven medical schools, is one of the largest health care providers in the nation.
“Chancellor Milliken embodies the qualities and leadership experiences the University of California community needs at this moment,” said Janet Reilly, chair of the UC Board of Regents. “He understands how critical UC’s contributions are to the state and the country, and he has decades of experience leading public institutions during times of unprecedented change in higher education. Chancellor Milliken is simply the right person for UC at just the right time.”
---
From the NY Times:
The University of California system announced on Friday that its new president would be James B. Milliken, a longtime public university leader who currently serves at the University of Texas system and previously ran the City University of New York and the University of Nebraska. At a fraught time in higher education, Mr. Milliken, 68, is regarded as an experienced and relatively safe choice to lead the nation’s most prestigious public university system. Mr. Milliken, known as JB, will take over the system of nearly 300,000 students at a time when the Trump administration is targeting the nation’s elite universities — and has the U.C. system in its cross hairs. All 10 University of California campuses are under investigation by the administration for various reasons, including admissions practices and allegations of antisemitism.
(Milliken) was known for improving graduation rates at CUNY even as state funding cuts led to deteriorating facilities. He oversaw the opening of the CUNY School of Medicine, which focused on New York’s underserved communities. When he announced he was stepping down in 2017, he was being treated for throat cancer. He remained on the faculty at CUNY before joining the University of Texas system as chancellor in 2018.
...At U.T., Mr. Milliken was known for championing an effort to provide free tuition to students whose families’ incomes were below $100,000. He also oversaw the implementation of a state law abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion offices, testifying to the Texas Legislature that 21 offices in the system had been shut down and that 311 positions had been eliminated.
...Mr. Milliken was born in Fremont, Neb., and obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska in 1979 and a law degree from New York University in 1983. Before joining academia, he practiced law in New York with the Legal Aid Society and, later, with the firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.
His selection follows the decision by Michael V. Drake to step down from the job in July. Mr. Milliken will assume the University of California’s leadership on Aug. 1 at a salary of $1,475,000.
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/us/university-of-california-president.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment