HHS associate dean Sharon Miller
to retire after 25 years at NIU

by Mark McGowan

Don't ask Sharon Miller if she plans to travel in retirement.

Miller, the longtime associate dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, simply wants to spend some time in her rural two-story home west of St. Charles.

"I'm just going to enjoy the house and the yard. It's a very nice home in a very nice location," said Miller, who came to NIU in 1977. "Travel may come later, but I've traveled enough. It's not like I haven't been anywhere."

Her journey has taken plenty of bends, mostly in and around classrooms from middle schools to private colleges and, of course, NIU.

At 60, she's still eager to teach, both courses in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) here in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences, or clinical chemistry in the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Program in the School of Allied Health Professions, and maybe in high school classrooms in St. Charles and DeKalb as a substitute. She also can "enjoy the house" while handling technical writing assignments, a strength second only to teaching, and watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," her favorite TV show since the first time she saw it.

Miller and her husband, Tom, an electrical engineer who's also retiring this month, are contemplating winters in New Mexico. Or they might return to Rockford, where they spent a dozen happy years from the mid-1970s to the late '80s until Tom's work took him to Chicago.

And both yearn to fly small planes again, something the husband-and-wife U.S. Navy veterans haven't done in years. Miller, a retired captain who served in naval intelligence as a restricted line officer and was commanding officer of several units, learned to fly a plane before learning to drive a car. Her husband was an aviator at the former Glenview Naval Air Station.

Like her career, the only real plan for retirement is to watch where life leads and follow.

"People ask, 'What do you do?' And I say, 'I'm a teacher,' " Miller said. "I've never thought of myself as an administrator. I love teaching. I love the classroom."

Miller earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern University - born in Oak Park, she grew up in Evanston and Des Plaines - and jumped at the chance to work and study as a graduate student in California, where her husband had been stationed by the U.S. Navy. She took courses at Stanford University and completed her doctorate at the University of California-Santa Cruz.

After Tom's discharge from the Navy, the couple fled a "horrible" job market in California and returned to their native Illinois. Sharon, who had taught science in middle schools and high schools, found a job at the College of St. Francis in Joliet. She also taught at Lewis University in Romeoville and at the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing.

When Tom took a job in Loves Park in 1977, Sharon sent resumes to Rockford College, the Rockford School District, Beloit College and NIU.

Olive Kimball, a former chair of the School of Allied Health Professions, called Miller with a question: How did she know about the open position for coordinator of the new Medical Technology Program, and would she like the job?

Kimball, herself a certified medical technologist, wanted someone with the same professional credentials to head the program. Miller had them.

"It was phenomenal serendipity," said Miller, who had been unaware of the job. "I was not thinking in terms of a major public institution, but I was very fortunate to get the position. The program has grown over the years into a super program."

Miller coordinated the program from 1978 until 1990, when she became acting associate dean, a job she previously held from 1983 to 1984. She continued to teach in the undergraduate Clinical Laboratory Sciences program.

By 1992, Miller was named associate dean and tackled crucial curriculum development issues. She joined the graduate faculty in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences in 1998 to teach graduate courses. In 2001, she served as interim dean.

Miller also has spoken nationally and internationally on issues of aging and changes in nutritional status.

"I have been very fortunate in my life, when I think back," Miller said. "I chose wisely. I knew that teaching was the love of my life."

A farewell reception is scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, in the Chandelier Room in Adams Hall. All are welcome.

11/4/2002