Michael J. Beals

President
Vanguard University

As president of Vanguard University, Orange County’s first four-year university, Dr. Michael Beals has brought something entirely new to the university in the form of unprecedented strategic growth. In his time as Vanguard University president since 2014, he has committed to many ambitious areas of growth, several of which have come to fruition in the last two years.

Beals’ growth-focused approach also helped Vanguard University accomplish record undergraduate enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in the 2022-2023 academic year, Vanguard welcomed its largest incoming traditional undergraduate class ever (650 new students) in the midst of a challenging climate with many other universities experiencing declining enrollment. Up from 1,499 new undergraduate student enrollments just five years ago, Vanguard University enrolled 1,768 undergraduate students in 2020 and 1,806 undergraduate students in 2022.