The initial answer would be "usually." Unless you have retained the rights to the article, the publisher usually now owns the copyright and only the publisher can grant permission.
If, however, the figure is a simple representation of data (a basic bar graph for example), you may not need permission. Data cannot be copyrighted, so non-creative ways of representing the data are generally considered "fair use."
The UNLV Graduate College guide notes that “Copyright approvals for previously published materials must be obtained and placed in the appendix.” https://www.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/page_files/3/Tab4_Useofpreviouslypublishedmaterial.pdf
The UNLV manual for thesis preparation has a copyright release/permission forms as templates that you can use to request or seek permission. https://faculty.unlv.edu/khertlein/MFT%20749/thesis%20manual.pdf This is located in Appendix II of the guide.
