Introduction | McCollester | Rexford | Cone | Knight | Priest | Church | Kolbe | Zook | Simmons | Auburn | Guzzetta | Muse | Elliot | Ruebel | Proenza | Scarborough | Wilson | Green | Miller
Gary L. Miller
(2019-Present)
Dr. Gary L. Miller was appointed The University of Akron’s 18th President on August 14, 2019, succeeding Interim President Dr. John C. Green. Before coming to UA, Miller served as Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay from 2014 to 2019 where he led a campus-wide planning and visioning process and assembled a special planning and budget advisory group to help navigate significant budget reductions. He also served as Chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington from 2011 to 2014, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research at Wichita State University, and Dean of the College of the Pacific at the University of the Pacific.
Miller was also a faculty member at the University of Mississippi, Webster State University, and Mississippi State University, where he co-authored a widely used textbook, Ecology. He earned a doctorate in biological sciences from Mississippi State University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in biology from the College of William and Mary. He and his wife, Georgia Nix Miller, have three adult children and five grandchildren.
President Miller’s early initiatives at UA included launching a $150 million fundraising campaign in tandem with the school’s 150th anniversary to bolster student success, enhance faculty support, and launch targeted strategic initiatives. He also initiated a strategic planning process called “Affirming our Promises,” with the goal of doubling down on our historic strengths, investing in promising new areas, and continuing the strategic examination of all of our academic and non-academic programs. Finally, President Miller launched a new communications focus: “We Are Akron. We Rise Together!”
When the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit the University and the world, President Miller led a reaction to this global pandemic by implementing safety and social distancing protocols and oversaw the transition of classes and services to an online environment. He also launched an initiative to address the financial, economic, and social realities of the post-COVID world and to redesign the University and adopt new operation models. This included salary reductions, budget reductions, and reductions in force as well as the creation of an Athletics Review Task Force, and the consolidation of colleges to reduce administrative overhead while enhancing the student and faculty experience and academic/scholarly excellence. These bold initiatives were undertaken to stabilize the institution and position it for the future as it emerges from the impact of the pandemic.
“We are living in an important and transformational moment in history. . . . A time to understand teaching in a new way. A time for faculty and staff to learn more about their colleagues. A time for students to embrace the essential collaboration of learning. . . . We have this! We are Zips. We rise together!”
– Gary L. Miller
Photograph Courtesy of University Communications and Marketing
President Miller speaks to an audience of faculty, staff, students, and friends of the University in the Ballroom of the Jean Hower Taber Student Union to launch UA’s strategic planning process, “Affirming Our Promises.” Then Interim Provost Joseph Urgo stands by his side. Unfortunately, the strategic planning process was paused in March 2020 to address the significant global health emergency brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
On April 23, 2020, President Miller launched an online video to examine the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the University and to describe a redesign of the University for a post-COVID world. In March 2020, the faculty and staff were sent home to work remotely and classes were moved online for the remainder of the spring semester.
One of the many initiatives President Miller launched to address the budget shortfall brought on by the pandemic was the review and consolidation of colleges during the spring and summer of 2020. The initiative was undertaken to reduce administrative overhead while enhancing the student and faculty experience and academic/scholarly excellence. The result was moving from a model of 11 colleges to five.
President and Mrs. Miller celebrate with Assistant Vice President of Alumni Relations Willy Kollman and Zippy after lighting Buchtel Hall as part of the Sesquicentennial kick-off event. The event included an online speech and champagne toast by President and Mrs. Miller and was preceded by 550 online celebrations around the world made up of over 2,500 participants. The online celebration was in lieu of a gala planned that evening at the John S. Knight Center, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
One of Dr. Miller’s many accomplishments so far as President of The University of Akron is the creation, in July 2020, of the Social Justice Task Force. The goal of the Task Force was to study diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University. The memo above introduces the group’s recommendations designed to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion across campus to ensure a welcoming and affirming environment.
“Dr. Miller has an outstanding record as an effective higher education leader and consensus builder. . . . He is the right person at the right time to lead our University.”
– UA Board of Trustees Chair Joseph M. Gingo