Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Dr. Michael M. Miller – or simply "Mike" – has been serving as the Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) since July 2025. He is heavily involved with multiple access and affordability initiatives and currently serves as the Chair of the Education Finance Model (EFM) Committee, which oversees the undergraduate financial aid strategy for the entirety of the University of California system.

Michael has more than 25 years of experience in higher education and is known at the federal and state levels for advocating for low-income students. In addition to his work on access and affordability, Michael is serving as the campus lead for initiatives such as the Global Food Initiative/Basic Needs, Healthy Campus Network. He proudly serves as a consultant for UCSB’s Native American Repatriation efforts, working with local tribes to return Native American human remains and other cultural artifacts currently in UCSB’s possession.

Some of Michael’s recent work on the UCSB campus involves conceiving and implementing programs such as the Promise Scholar Program and the Financial Crisis Response Team. The Promise Scholar Program is an innovative effort that provides four years of predictable funding for low-income, first-generation students. Unlike traditional financial aid programs, the Promise Scholar Program gives families a multiyear financial outlook and provides robust wrap-around academic guidance and holistic support. The Financial Crisis Response Team is designed to identify students in financial distress and holistically resolve their time-sensitive resource issues to help ensure students are able to graduate rather than dropout or stop-out. In recent years, Michael has implemented multiple technology solutions designed to improve the overall student experience while making UCSB more efficient and accountable. He is currently a member of UCSB’s Information Technology Board (ITB) and serves as the Student Affairs sponsor for the campus-wide Student Success Hub implementation.

Michael is a first-generation college student who was born and raised on the Skokomish Indian Reservation in Washington State. Athletics provided him a doorway into college: while at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon, he was a multi-time All-American track and field athlete. Michael went on to run professionally and competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Trials. In 2000, he became just the 237th American to ever run a sub 4-minute mile. He is a proud Veteran of the United States Army. In 2021, Michael was inducted into the Linfield University Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2023, he joined the Linfield University Board of Trustees. 

Outside of work and spending time with his college-aged daughters, his interests include golf, sports journalism, hiking, running, and volunteering with local youth sports organizations.

Executive Team Members

Immediate Office Staff