Howard Aaron Gillman is an American

university administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the Faculty (academic staff), faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint ...

and academic. He has been the chancellor of

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

since September 2014. He was the dean of the College of Letters, Arts, Sciences at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

from 2007 to 2012, where he had taught political science and history since 1990.

Early life and education

Howard Gillman was born and raised in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. He graduated magna cum laude from

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1980 with a BA in Political Science. He continued to study Political Science at UCLA, receiving an MA in 1981 and a PhD in 1988. Gillman was a first-generation college student.

Career

In September 1990, Gillman was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at

, becoming an Associate Professor in 1995 and a Professor in 2002. In August 2004 he was named Chair of the Department of Political Science, and became Dean of the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences in June 2007. In September 2014 he assumed his current position as the chancellor of

. During his tenure at UC Irvine, Gillman has expressed support for freedom of speech while holding that student opposition to this policy should not be dismissed as infantile. In an interview for the LA Times he stated that it is unfair to describe modern students as "snowflakes", explaining: "The concerns that students are expressing are legitimate, and universities must commit themselves to the creation of safe and inclusive learning environments. But part of the learning environment you are creating in higher ed is one where any idea can be expressed, evaluated, contested and engaged". With

Erwin Chemerinsky Erwin Chemerinsky (born May 14, 1953) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure. Since 2017, Chemerinsky has been the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. Previously, he a ...

, dean of

Berkeley Law The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...

, Gillman co-authored a book entitled "Free Speech on Campus", which argues that "campuses must provide supportive learning environments for an increasingly diverse student body but can never restrict the expression of ideas".

Personal life

Gilman is married to Ellen Ruskin-Gillman with whom he has two children. Ellen earned a PhD in psychology from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and has conducted research about

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

and

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillman, Howard University of California, Irvine people People from North Hollywood, Los Angeles University of California, Los Angeles alumni American university and college faculty deans Year of birth missing (living people) Living people