James Milliken

James Milliken is president of the University of California, overseeing UC’s system of ten campuses, six academic health centers, three affiliated national laboratories, more than 290,000 students, and 230,000 faculty and staff. He has more than 30 years of experience serving in leadership roles at large institutions. Most recently, he served as chancellor of the University of Texas System (UT) from 2018–2025, where he also held the Lee Hage and Joseph D. Jamail Regents Chair in Higher Education Leadership. As UT’s chancellor, he led one of the largest public university systems in the United States, composed of 14 academic and health institutions. Before joining the UT system, he served as chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban university system in the country, where he was a tenured distinguished professor of law, public policy, and education. Prior to CUNY, he served as president of the University of Nebraska, where he was a tenured professor in the schools of law and of public policy. He also served as senior vice president of the 16-campus University of North Carolina. During his career in public higher education, he has received many awards and recognitions, including honorary degrees, the President’s Award from One Hundred Black Men of New York, the Nebraskan of the Year award, the CUNY Dreamers Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the City & State New York. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the boards of directors of the American Council on Education and the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Nebraska and a law degree at New York University.