Quick Facts
Biography
Melvin L. Oliver is an American academic administrator and professor, currently serving as the sixth president of Pitzer College.
Prior to his tenure at Pitzer, Oliver served as the executive dean at the UCSB College of Letters and Science, where he was also the Sara Miller McCune Dean of Social Sciences and a professor of sociology. In addition to his career in academia, Oliver has served as the vice president of the Asset Building and Community Development Program at the Ford Foundation. Oliver worked as a professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1978 to 1996, and was helped establish the UCLA Center for the Study of Urban Poverty.
Oliver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1950, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Oliver earned his B.A. at William Penn University and his M.A. and PhD from Washington University in St. Louis.