New SUNY Chancellor, Jim Malatras has announced that Dr. Teresa A. Miller, J.D., will be officer-in-charge at SUNY Old Westbury, following the departure of President Calvin O. Butts after more than twenty years of service. As officer-in-charge, Dr. Miller will provide ongoing leadership to the campus as the search for a permanent president is near completion and will be finalized by next month. Her role will take in effect on September 1st.
“In my relatively short time with the College, I have greatly appreciated Dr. Miller’s intellect, insight, and passion during our engagements. I strongly believe that her unwavering commitment to social justice, wealth of experience in higher education, and senior leadership functions in the SUNY System Administration will serve our campus well,” said Mili Makhijani, chair of the college council and presidential search committee.
Previously, Dr. Miller served on the SUNY’s senior leadership team as the Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Chief Diversity Officer. In this role, she works on the leadership and direction of strategic initiatives and sets the goals and expectations for diversity and inclusion across SUNY and its campuses. She also leads the Chancellor’s new initiative, PRODI-G (Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Growth), designed to increase diversity amongst faculty ranks and guide campus hiring.
Prior to her serving on the SUNY’s senior leadership team, she was a tenured faculty member of the University of Buffalo Law School specializing in criminal procedure, immigration law, and prisoner law. She also served as UB’s Chief Diversity Officer and Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence.
“Dr. Miller’s long-standing commitment to social justice is also demonstrated by her decades-long involvement in prison reform in New York State, and her scholarship on the convergence of immigration law and criminal punishment, among others. I am confident that under her leadership, the campus will be well positioned and prepared for the upcoming transition,” said Makhijani.
Dr. Miller received the State University of New York Council for University Advancement Educational Achievement Award in 2018. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, her LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison as a William H. Hastie Fellow, and her B.A. degree from Duke University as an Angier B. Duke Scholar.
