Brent Palmer

Director, Education

Brent Palmer joined the University of California Office of Federal Governmental Relations (UC FGR) in April 2023 as the director of education, focusing on education and immigration issues.

Prior to joining UC FGR, Brent served in the Office of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein as a legislative assistant handling education, arts and humanities, human services and housing issues. Before joining Sen. Feinstein's office in 2017, Brent was part of Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s legislative staff for nearly a decade, serving in several roles throughout his tenure, including overseeing the senator's labor, health and human services, and education appropriations priorities as well as the senator's priorities before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Brent has a B.S. in political science with a second major in law and society from Frostburg State University.

Brent is responsible for:

Department of Education (Higher Education, Campus Safety, Education Research, Graduate Education, International Education and Language Training, K-12 Education, Student and Institutional Accountability, STEM Ed, Teacher Preparation and Professional Development)
Student Financial Aid (Pell Grants, Student Loans, Campus-Based Programs)
Academic Preparation and Student Outreach, including TRIO and GEAR UP
Immigration-Related issues (International Students and Scholars, H-1B and Employment Visas)
Undocumented Student issues
Museums and Libraries, including NAGPRA
Education-Related Tax issues
Veterans Educational Benefits
National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities