Campus News
Welcoming new UC President James B. Milliken
James B. Milliken was formally approved today as the next president of the University of California, our nation’s preeminent public university system.
Dear Colleagues,
I am happy to pass along the news that James B. Milliken was formally approved today as the next president of the University of California, our nation’s preeminent public university system.
Milliken is a national leader in public higher education with more than 30 years of experience. He has served as chancellor of the University of Texas system since 2018. He previously served as chancellor of The City University of New York, president of the University of Nebraska, and senior vice president at the University of North Carolina. He has expertise in areas of great importance to our system. At the University of Texas, and throughout his career, he has worked to expand educational opportunity and boost student success, especially for low-income students and those from marginalized communities, as we have also done at UC Santa Cruz. I am very much looking forward to working with him.
At UT, Miliken oversees almost $5 billion in annual research expenditures, and the Texas system’s health enterprise is one of the largest care providers in the nation. This experience should serve him well as he takes over leadership of UC’s 10 campuses, six academic health systems and three affiliated national laboratories.
While UC President Michael V. Drake is not retiring just yet — he is stepping down July 31 — I want to thank him for his principled leadership over the past five years. He has been a champion of educational equity, strengthening efforts systemwide to expand access to underserved and underrepresented communities. He has also pursued initiatives ensuring UC remains a leader on climate and sustainability issues. Perhaps most importantly, he successfully led the UC system through the unprecedented COVID-19 public health crisis. I am very grateful for his leadership and his support for UC Santa Cruz.
Sincerely,
Cindy
Cynthia Larive
Chancellor