William Flores

Antioch University Santa Barbara has hired William Flores to be its new president.

Flores will serve as the fourth president of the Santa Barbara campus, succeeding Nancy Leffert. Leffert will retire on June 30 after seven years of service.

“The committee felt that Dr. Flores had both an impressive background and the visionary thinking to lead AUSB into the future. He understands the diversity and uniqueness of Santa Barbara and our campus, and he demonstrated the personal warmth to convince us he was the perfect choice,” said Vicki Riskin, chair of the Antioch University Santa Barbara Board of Trustees, in a news release.

Most recently, Flores was the president of the University of Houston-Downtown, which has more than 14,000 students and is one of the most diverse institutions in the nation. Since he joined UHD in July 2009, the university expanded online enrollment, partnerships with community colleges and physical size, grew its downtown footprint and opened a satellite campus in northwest Houston.

Flores earned a doctorate in public policy and a master’s degree in political science from Stanford University.

“I am looking forward to joining the Antioch University community. Antioch’s rich tradition of providing innovative learning environments that are rigorous and responsive to student’s needs and its vision of ‘offering learners and communities’ transformative education in a global context that fosters innovation and inspires social action’ is at (the) heart of what I believe as an educator,” said Flores in a news release. “I’m looking forward to being part of Antioch and contributing to the university’s continued success.”

• Contact Glenn Rabinowitz at grabinowitz@pacbiztimes.com.