Melissa Villarreal García, J.D., Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff in The University of Texas System Office of the Chancellor, focuses on supporting the Chancellor, as well as UT System and campus leadership to advance UT System’s mission and vision across UT System’s thirteen institutions. Melissa works closely with the Chancellor and UT System Executive Officers directly supporting each on a vast array of complex strategic, operational, business, management, legal and policy matters. Melissa also works closely and collaborates with the Board of Regents’ Office, the Office of Business Affairs, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Office of Health Affairs, the Office of the General Counsel, and other UT System offices.
Melissa has been with the UT System since 2012, initially as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel until July 2019 providing legal advice and counsel on a broad range of issues, including employment law, civil rights issues, faculty and student discipline, Title IX compliance, tuition and fees and other business-related matters, and then as Associate Vice Chancellor in the Office of Health Affairs until July 31, 2025.
Prior to joining UT System, Melissa practiced for over a decade in the areas of tax, commercial and securities litigation, employment law and administrative law. Melissa is a Texas native from Houston with family roots in the Rio Grande Valley. She received a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Texas A&M University in College Station and a Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law in Houston. She and her husband, Ramiro García, are proud parents to their “futbolista” high school-aged son, Diego, and their fur baby, Milo (an 85-pound silver lab!).
