Mr. Javier Miyares is a highly respected academic leader with over 20 years of experience driving innovation and change in online higher education. This includes eight years of past service as president of University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). Mr. Miyares served as in that leadership role until September 2020, and then worked in an advisory capacity with the University System of Maryland (USM) until June 2021.
During this time, he led UMGC through several major shifts, despite significant headwinds. This included increased enrollment, expansion of academic programs, and launching successful partnerships with employers. Mr. Miyares also implemented several successful scholarship programs.
He started at the University as a vice president in 2001 and worked in roles of increasing responsibility over two decades.
Mr. Miyares has also served several notable boards and commissions, including the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education (ACE); as a commissioner with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education; on the Board of Directors of Achieving the Dream; and on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Advisory Committee on Education. He has also held positions with the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
Mr. Miyares was born in Havana, Cuba and attended the Jesuit High School Seminary. He was taken out of the country by his Jesuit teachers on July 4, 1961, at age 14, after his father was imprisoned by Fidel Castro following the Bay of Pigs invasion. Eventually, he moved to Baltimore, where he was reunited with his brother and lived for several years.
Mr. Miyares earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology at University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). He completed all the requirements but the dissertation for a doctorate in Educational Measurement and Statistics.