Oscar Porter currently serves as executive director for the statewide office for Californias Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA), and president of MESA USA. MESAs mission is to increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students who succeed in math and science, and eventually major in and/or assume careers in science, engineering and other math-based fields.

Prior to becoming executive director, he was California MESAs chief operating officer with responsibility for the daily operation of the program that serves over 300 schools, colleges, and universities across the state. Porter joined MESA in 1995 as associate director for research, evaluation and information management after serving four years as associate vice president for academic affairs at the University of Redlands.

Porter has been a high education researcher and administrator for over 30 years and has worked in a variety of institutional environments, including an experimental cluster college, an HBCU, a graduate school of law and diplomacy, and two stints with the University of California. He also served as assistant executive director of the National Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities, the research arm of NAICU in Washington, D.C. Porter earned his dual-major BA in history and political science from Tufts University, his MA in political science from Michigan State University, and his PhD in higher education from UCLA.