Publisher, Leader, Benefactor
A lifetime of service from Sara Miller McCune H’05
A tin box to collect spare coins for charity was a fixture in the childhood home of Sara Miller McCune H’05. Throughout her upbringing in Queens, New York, her family modeled the importance of caring for others. While the scale of Sara’s philanthropy has outgrown the tin box, her vision is unchanged. A textbook example is her leadership at UC Santa Barbara.
Sara studied political science at Queens College, City University of New York. Despite being too young to vote, she headed the county student campaign for John F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential race. After college, Sara fell in love with publishing during her first job at Macmillan.
“Reading is not just a way to learn, but also a pleasure and a way to encounter new experiences. It shows you what you might want to try, or avoid. It’s a portal,” said Sara.
Sara researched sales across mysteries, children’s books, and a variety of textbooks for Macmillan. Her career then took her to Oxford, England, where she excelled in managing an international sales team at Pergamon Press. After her return to the U.S. and with guidance from her future husband, George, Sara began to shape a concept for a publishing company that would encourage scholars to write in their own voices.
In 1965, 24-year-old Sara founded Sage with $500 of startup capital. Sage is now a leading global academic publisher known for its expertise across disciplines; journals, research methods, textbooks, videos and an expansive reference collection; and content emphasizing critical thinking, data analysis, and computational tools with the aim of training social scientists and policymakers.
Sara began her company with the belief that research and education were critical forces in moving society toward greater justice. That same belief guides her philanthropy at UC Santa Barbara.
“Each gift reflects a long personal connection and a belief in the central importance of the social sciences, the arts and the libraries,” said Sara.
Sara moved to Santa Barbara in 1992 after George passed away in 1990. UCSB Arts & Lectures drew her further into university life. You can still catch her in the audience of favorite performers like Wynton Marsalis, Itzhak Perlman, and Yo-Yo Ma (pictured). Sara endowed the Miller McCune Executive Director of Arts & Lectures and has supported many events and series over the decades.
Through her company, Sara endowed the Sage Sara Miller McCune Dean for Social Sciences and the Sage Center for the Study of the Mind. Through her personal support, she established the McCune Endowed Internship and Public Service Program in the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life. Sara is also a longtime supporter of graduate students in the Department of Communication.
“If you don’t have good government at every level, you are not going to have a good country, a city, or a community. Education and research in the social sciences and humanities are so important because they are everything that has to do with our ability to sustain democracy,” said Sara.
At the UCSB Library, she established the Sara Miller McCune Arts Library, which unites the existing Art & Architecture and Music Library Collections in one state-of-the-art space. Sara has also promised the UCSB Library a rare book collection composed of works about the foundations of democracy, classic literature, historical archives about the advancements of women, national and international economic history, texts about Indian culture and history, as well as a significant array of books about Judaica.
“The collection fits naturally with what the Library already has, and I want students and scholars to benefit from them,” said Sara.
For Sara, philanthropy and guidance go hand-in-hand. Her long tenure of leadership includes service on the Arts & Lectures Council; the Division of Social Sciences Dean’s Cabinet; and the UC Santa Barbara Foundation Board of Trustees (from 1994-2009). Sara is an honorary UC Santa Barbara alumna. She received the UC Santa Barbara Medal in 2007 and the College of Engineering’s Venky Narayanamurti Entrepreneurial Leadership Award in 2019.
“Sara Miller McCune’s contributions to UC Santa Barbara are unparalleled in their comprehensive impact across a broad range of areas, from the social sciences to Arts & Lectures, from the Library to the Walter H. Capps Center for Ethics, Religion, and Public Life. As a publisher, she has helped to shape social science scholarship and its influence on society and public policy. As a supporter of the arts and culture, she has enriched both the campus and the Santa Barbara communities,” said Executive Vice Chancellor David Marshall.
Sara’s legacy will continue at UC Santa Barbara through generous estate gifts to support the Library, Arts & Lectures, and the Division of Social Sciences.
While her name graces many programs and spaces on campus, Sara’s impact cannot be contained. It will live on in the students who enter public life prepared to lead; in the audiences of moving performances; and in the many volumes she has ushered into classrooms and libraries around the world.
Published November 2025
If you don’t have good government at every level, you are not going to have a good country, a city, or a community. Education and research in the social sciences and humanities are so important because they are everything that has to do with our ability to sustain democracy.
Sara Miller McCune H’05, pictured with cellist Yo-Yo Ma
