The University of California Board of Regents approved Michael T. Brown, a veteran professor from the Gevirtz School and administrator at UC Santa Barbara, as UC provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs on July 13. As provost, Brown will serve as the UC system’s chief academic officer and lead efforts to further student success, support academic excellence and foster diversity across the 10 campuses.
“We are proud and delighted that Dr. Brown will serve in this important leadership position for the University of California. Although we will miss him on campus, he will maintain his appointment as Professor of the Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology Department in our Gevirtz Graduate School of Education,” UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang wrote in a statement to the campus community. “We are excited that UCOP is gaining an experienced leader committed to shared governance, institutional excellence, and diversity. On behalf of all of us at UC Santa Barbara, I am honored to thank him for his many contributions to our campus.”
Brown began his career at UC Santa Barbara in 1993 as an associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, and was appointed professor in the same discipline in 2000. In 2009, he became acting dean for Extension and Off-Campus Studies before being named to his present role as dean of UC Santa Barbara Extension. He has held numerous leadership positions within the UC system, including chair and vice chair of the UC Academic Senate, chair and vice chair of the Academic Senate’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS), faculty representative to the Board of Regents, and member of the Regents’ Study Group on University Diversity.
Professor Brown received his B.A. degree in psychology (1978) from UC Irvine, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in counseling psychology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. He was elected as fellow in the American Psychological Association for work articulating and demonstrating empirical linkages among socio-structural, psychological, cultural and career choice variables, especially as they pertain to women and racial/ethnic minority groups.