Astrid Tuminez

<p>Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez (pronounced too-MEE-nez) was appointed the seventh president of Utah<br>Valley University in 2018. Born in a farming village in the Philippine province of Iloilo, she<br>moved with her parents and siblings to the slums of Iloilo City when she was 2 years old, her<br>parents seeking better educational opportunities for their children.</p><p>Her pursuit of education eventually took her to the United States, where she graduated summa<br>cum laude with a bachelor&amp;#39;s degree in international relations and Russian literature from<br>Brigham Young University (1986). She later earned a master&amp;#39;s degree from Harvard University in<br>Soviet Studies (1988) and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in political<br>science (1996).</p><p>Before UVU, President Tuminez was an executive at Microsoft, where she led corporate,<br>external, and legal affairs in Southeast Asia. She also served as vice dean of research at the Lee<br>Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She has worked in<br>philanthropy and venture capital in New York City and is a permanent member of the Council<br>on Foreign Relations. She is the author of Russian Nationalism Since 1856: Ideology and the<br>Making of Foreign Policy and many other publications. She and her husband, Jeffrey S. Tolk,<br>have three children. In her spare time, she enjoys running, dancing, and traveling.</p>