Dr. Jeffrey Milem, Dean and Professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School of Education, has recently been elected to the Board of Directors for the Santa Barbara Education Foundation (SBEF). SBEF enhances the success of students by supporting academic enrichment programs, developing partnerships to champion the critical needs of our schools, and engaging the community in building educational excellence in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
“Dean Milem has been an important player in the research and advocacy for diversity in higher education. We’re honored to have him join our board,” says SBEF Executive Director Margie Yahyavi. “Dean Milem’s research has focused on equity, access and success for all students and is a perfect fit with the mission of the Santa Barbara Education Foundation.”
The Santa Barbara Education Foundation funding goes to five major areas: 1) Academic Support, in particular intervention for students at-risk of dropping out, mentorship and preparation for college-bound students, humanities-based curriculum, and parent support; 2) Music and Arts, through summer and after-school music programs, instruments, promoting exposure to performing arts; 3) Literacy, by supporting early reading intervention, classroom library books; 4) Early Childhood Education, by recruitment and resources for preschool-aged children; and, 5) Mental Health, by providing youth violence intervention and teen dating abuse education.
Before accepting the role as Dean of Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, Milem served as the Ernest W. McFarland Distinguished Professor in Leadership for Education Policy and Reform in the College of Education at the University of Arizona from 2008 to 2016. He held many other distinguished titles at the University of Arizona, including Director of the Arizona Medical Education Research Initiative (AMERI) in the Colleges of Education and Medicine. In addition to authoring and co-authoring numerous books and articles, Professor Milem is a 2016 awardee of the Social Policy Award for “Best Article,” in the Society for Research on Adolescence.
Professor Milem’s research emphasizes racial dynamics in higher education, the outcomes of campus diversity, the impact of college on students, and ways in which teachers can effectively use diversity in their classroom teaching.