At its organizational meeting on December 19, 2019, the Santa Barbara City College District Board of Trustees elected Robert Miller as president of the board for the 2020 calendar year. Dr. Peter Haslund was elected board vice president.
President Miller, who represents Area 2 (Goleta) and served as president of the board for the 2019 calendar year, was first appointed to the SBCC Board of Trustees in February 2018. He was born and raised in Iowa and moved to Southern California in 1998. He earned his B.S. degree in 1968 from Iowa State University and his J.D. degree in 1984 from the University of Minnesota. Prior to law school, he served in the Peace Corps, served as a congressional assistant, managed a U.S. Senate Campaign and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Refugee Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He practiced law with the firm of Bowman and Brooke, LLP, from 1985 until his retirement in 2015. Since retirement he has volunteered as a legal mediator for the Superior Courts in Santa Barbara and Ventura. He also provides private mediation services. In 2014, he and his wife moved to Goleta, where he has been involved in numerous community activities. He currently serves as a commissioner with the City of Goleta Planning Commission.
Vice President Peter Haslund, who also served as vice president of the Board for the 2019 calendar year, joined the SBCC Board of Trustees in December 2010. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, he immigrated to the United States in 1949. He was educated in Los Angeles and received an associate degree from Los Angeles City College and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cal State Los Angeles. He completed a Master of Arts degree at Midwestern University, Texas, and a Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was awarded Professor Emeritus status upon his retirement from SBCC in 2009 after 40 years in the classroom teaching Political Science and Global Studies.
