Dean Milem taking part in a White House Convening on Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education in November 2016
First event on October 12 will feature Dean Jeffrey Milem
UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School announces the debut of The Dean’s Lecture Series on Education, Diversity and Democracy with a lecture by Dean Jeffrey Milem—“Education, Diversity and Democracy: How Can We Fulfill Higher Education’s Promise to Prepare Citizens for an Increasingly Diverse Democracy?”—on Thursday, October 12 at 6 pm in UC Santa Barbara’s MultiCultural Theater. The event is free and open to the public.
At this lecture, Dean Milem will discuss the ways in which higher education stakeholders can work together to create equitable, vibrant, engaging institutions that prepare citizens for an increasingly diverse democracy. The lecture will build upon three decades of scholarship regarding race relations and education, the outcomes of diversity in higher education, and the essential components of diverse and equitable learning environments.
This lecture series will bring preeminent thought leaders, educators, public figures who will stimulate us to reflect on the important role that education plays, or should play, in helping to build a democratic society that is becoming increasingly diverse. Dean Milem says, “While these topics and issues have always been important to explore, the current state of public discourse greatly amplifies the need for us all to engage in critical conversations that will enhance our understanding and create collective action.”
Jeffrey Milem is Professor and Dean of The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa Barbara. Prior to coming to UCSB, he was the Ernest W. McFarland Distinguished Professor in Leadership for Educational Policy and Reform in the College of Education at the University of Arizona. He is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and has been awarded the American College Personnel Association’s Contributions to Higher Education award. Professor Milem’s research focuses on the ways in which colleges and universities can be organized to enhance equity, access, and success for all students; the racial context within higher education; and the relationship between how colleges and universities organize themselves and student outcomes and faculty role performance. As a widely recognized expert in the area of racial dynamics in higher education, Milem has been commissioned to do research by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Harvard Civil Rights Project, the American Council on Education, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the American Educational Research Association’s Panel on Racial Dynamics in Higher Education.
With his colleagues Mitchell Chang and Anthony Antonio, he co-authored Making Diversity Work on Campus: A Research Based Perspective, published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which translates research demonstrating the educational benefits of diversity to develop a “roadmap” for college leaders of the conditions that must be in place if they are to maximize the opportunities for teaching and learning that racial diversity provides. Jeff contributed to two of the three books that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor cited in her majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger as being influential in helping to document the university’s claim regarding the educational benefits of diversity. He also worked closely on amicus briefs for both iterations of the Fisher v. Texas case.
Milem also worked with the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education and the American Council on Education to present a series of technical assistance workshops on affirmative action and college admissions. Professor Milem has given speeches and/or provided consultation on racial dynamics to different national education organizations as well as various public and private higher education institutions across the country. In addition to his employment in higher education, Jeff has worked as a photographer, janitor, maintenance worker, house painter, landscaper, bartender, cook, and hospital orderly.
Milem was a faculty member at the University of Maryland and at Vanderbilt University. He earned his B.A. in political science from Michigan State University, his M.Ed. from the University of Vermont, and his Ph.D. from UCLA.