Miller '75 named first female dean of Yale College

For Miller, following in the footsteps of men is no new endeavor. Miller arrived at Princeton just three years after the University adopted coeducation. Of the roughly 1,100 students in the Class of 1975, around 300 were women.

“I think that until women and underrepresented minorities are represented and [establish their] presence across all disciplines and fields, there will be hurdles to face,” Miller said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian on Monday.

Miller graduated summa cum laude from Princeton with a degree in art and archaeology, and those who knew Miller during her undergraduate years said they saw signs of focus and drive early on.

“Mary was absolutely taken with pre-Columbian art from sophomore year on,” Miller’s former roommate Deb Dalton ’75 said. “While most of us were still wallowing in confusion and indecision, Mary had made up her mind from the moment she took [art history professor] Gillette Griffin’s course.”

The passion that Miller exhibited during her undergraduate years has continued ever since. Miller completed her Ph.D. at Yale in 1981 and joined the faculty the same year. She has served in several important roles at Yale, including director of undergraduate studies and chair of the art history and Latin-American studies departments.

Miller focuses on Mesoamerican art and has won recognition in the form of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Kathleen McCleery ’75 met Miller during their freshman year at the University, and the two have remained good friends.

McCleery, who has attended several of Miller’s lectures over the years, said that she “has this way of taking an obscure subject matter … and [bringing] it to life in a vivid way.”

Miller also has “a wicked sense of humor [and] is incredibly blunt,” McCleery added. “She’s not somebody who beats around the bush and tells you something you want to hear.”

From master to dean

Miller’s commitment to academics complicated her decision to take the dean position. After she was approached with the offer, Miller spent a few days thinking about the tradeoffs.

“One of my principal concerns has been how I would complete my pending academic work,” Miller said. She is scheduled to deliver the A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., during spring 2010.

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Eventually, however, she overcame these reservations.

“I’m optimistic,” Miller said of her ability to balance academics with her new responsibilities, adding that she will be taking summer 2009 off from responsibilities as dean to focus on the Mellon engagement.

Miller’s acceptance of the deanship comes at the end of her nine-year tenure as master of Saybrook, one of Yale’s residential colleges.

Miller’s appointment as master came at a tumultuous time, as her predecessor was arrested on charges of sexual assault and possession of child pornography. Another former dean of Saybrook was a suspect in the murder of a Yale student.

Yale junior Ben Flores, a member of Saybrook’s college council, said that Miller has taken her role as the “social engineer” of college life to extremes.

He said that the number and quality of trips she organizes for Saybrook College students surpass those of other colleges and that “she is a very present figure in everyone’s lives.”

Miller said she hopes that her new position will not compromise her ability to spend time with students.

“I have every intention of staying involved in Yale undergraduate life,” Miller said. “I admire the talent and diversity of student life, and that is why I was interested in taking this position.”

Though Miller said that she does not have her own agenda for improvements she would like to make, she added that she is excited about overseeing the completion of Yale’s two new residential colleges and increasing the number of students and faculty.

These are opportunities for growth,” Miller said. “[I’m] excited to be part of such a dynamic team.”