Munitz's first teaching job was at the University of California, Berkeley from 1966 to 1968, where he also worked as a part-time assistant to the UC system president, Clark Kerr.

They turned to 35-year-old "wunderkind" Barry Munitz—then serving as vice-president and dean of faculties in the system office—to be the new president of the University of Houston.

Munitz was active with Maxxam's related companies, including serving as chair of the executive committee of United Savings Association of Texas (USAT), and assisted Hurwitz with his 1985 take-over of Pacific Lumber Company, with its old-growth redwoods, including Headwaters Forest in northern California.

[8] In 1991, Munitz was selected as chancellor of the 23-campus California State University, the country's largest senior system of public higher education.

He introduced management practices from the corporate world, including tying a portion of salary increases for faculty to performance reviews, evaluating campus presidents on their success in fund-raising from the private sector, and mandating a common financial and data management system for all campuses.

In the midst of an investigation by the California Attorney General,[12] Munitz resigned in 2006 and was forced to "forgo his severance package of more than $2 million, and reimburse the Getty Trust for $250,000 after alleged improprieties including lavish expense account spending.