{"id":27846,"date":"2016-04-26T15:41:09","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T19:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=27846"},"modified":"2018-08-24T06:23:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T10:23:51","slug":"a-mentor-to-future-doctors-and-health-professionals-biology-professor-roman-miller-retires-after-31-years-at-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/a-mentor-to-future-doctors-and-health-professionals-biology-professor-roman-miller-retires-after-31-years-at-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"A mentor to future doctors and health professionals, biology professor Roman Miller retires after 31 years at EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"

All those years ago, the trajectory of Roman Miller<\/a>\u2019s young career had seemed so clear. He\u2019d finished undergraduate and master\u2019s degrees in biology and earned a PhD from Kent State University, specializing in male rats\u2019 reproductive biology before landing a research position at the West Virginia University School of Medicine\u2019s Department of Pharmacology. There, in the early \u201980s, Miller was working in the lab of a well-connected professor and figured that before long, he\u2019d be settling down in a tenure-track position at a medical school with a long research career ahead.<\/p>\n

When he heard that EMU was hiring a biology professor, Miller\u2019s initial reaction was unenthusiastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little bit afraid about what would happen with my research if I came to a teaching institution,\u201d recalls Miller, who will retire at the end of May after 31 years in the job he\u2019d once regarded with ambivalence. \u201cThat\u2019s not what I was preparing myself for back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Roman<\/a>Nonetheless, he sent off his resume and forgot all about it. Of course, before long, he\u2019d been offered the Daniel B. Suter Endowed Chair<\/a> in the biology department (a position that, critically, allowed time to continue his own research) and was assured that it was not only permissible but desirable that his Christian faith accompany him into the classroom. All together, it was enough to coax him out of the fast lane and, in 1985, join the biology faculty at a tiny Mennonite college in Virginia.<\/p>\n

Fostering student research<\/h3>\n

Though his primary responsibility at EMU was teaching, Miller continued to pursue research projects with students. When he arrived, he was the only biology<\/a> professor consistently working with students on serious research<\/a> that was published. Now, that\u2019s a priority of every member of the EMU science faculty \u2013 a change that Miller is proud to have played a part in over the years.<\/p>\n

Another priority when he arrived on campus was maintaining the program\u2019s emphasis on preparing students for medical school. During Miller\u2019s years at EMU, he set \u2013 and often met \u2013 the lofty goal of doubling the national average medical school acceptance rate<\/a>. He also expanded students\u2019 opportunities by creating the Pre-Professional Health Sciences program<\/a> for students intending to pursue various careers in healthcare.<\/p>\n

I\"Roman<\/a>n 1989, EMU hosted a conference<\/a> entitled \u201cBioethics and the Beginning of Life.\u201d Miller was the primary organizer and co-edited a book by the same title with Beryl Brubaker<\/a>, then a professor of nursing. He and Brubaker (who had since become university provost) later co-edited another book, Viewing New Creations with Anabaptist Eyes<\/em>, which emerged from a larger, national conference on bioethics held at EMU in 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two conferences were very significant, and he was the person behind both of them,\u201d recalls Brubaker, who describes Miller as a \u201chigh-energy person who likes to get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

His scholarly works and contributions continued on this topic from 1999-2007, when Miller edited the journal Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 2011, with chemistry<\/a> professor Tara Kishbaugh<\/a> and\u00a0 Bible and religion<\/a> professor Christian Early<\/a>, Miller helped organize his third and biggest conference at EMU \u201cConversations on Attachment.\u201d<\/p>\n

An influential scientist and educator<\/h3>\n

As part of his endowed role in the Suter Chair, Miller wrote numerous grant proposals and was awarded multiple small grants from National Science Foundation, Templeton Foundation, and United States Department of Agriculture, totaling $350,000 in extramural funds to support various program and research initiatives.<\/p>\n

Speaking at his recent retirement party, Tara Kishbaugh<\/a>, a chemistry professor and chair of the biology and chemistry departments, highlighted Miller\u2019s \u201cdeep understanding of Anabaptist history\u201d and influential role in exploring \u201cthe various ways that faith and science can intersect\u201d as additional pieces of his legacy.<\/p>\n

Among undergraduates he\u2019s helped to prepare for medical school, Miller is a well-respected and well-remembered mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember his class on bioethics being one of the most influential during my time at EMU,\u201d said Trent Hummel \u201897, a pediatric oncologist at Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital. \u201cHe made me really think critically in a way I hadn\u2019t ever done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toward the end of his career at EMU, Miller\u2019s biggest project involved the creation of the MA in Biomedicine<\/a> program. He\u2019d begun floating the idea about a decade ago, though it took several years for the idea to gain wider support. The program \u2013 designed to prepare graduate students to enter medical or dental school, a teaching career or healthcare administration \u2013 admitted its first students in the fall of 2012. Though he\u2019d once planned to retire after an even 30 years at EMU, Miller postponed that by a year to make sure the biomedicine program developed a firm foundation.<\/p>\n

Blueberries and sheep<\/h3>\n

\"Biology<\/a>Though science was his profession, Miller grew up in a farming family and never lost his affinity for agriculture. He and his wife, Elva, raise Barbados Blackbelly sheep, collie dogs and organic-certified blueberries west of Harrisonburg. Over the past several years, Miller has brought his research background to the cultivation of a blueberry patch, winning several grants<\/a> from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research organic horticultural techniques. (In lieu of a card, his colleagues on the science faculty presented him with copy of Blueberries for Sal<\/em> at his recent retirement party).<\/p>\n

Blueberry science also eventually found its way into his laboratory. The last major research project Miller is finishing up with undergraduate assistants is investigating how blueberry antioxidants can protect unborn mice from fetal alcohol syndrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the end of May, Miller\u2019s 31-year career at EMU will officially come to an end. Later in the summer, he\u2019ll have a blueberry patch to harvest and plans to keep his schedule unencumbered through the end of the year while he clears the backlog from the farm to-do list. After that, he\u2019ll have time and energy to invest in something, though what that will be exactly, isn\u2019t yet clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have good suggestions, I\u2019m open to them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Other retiring faculty and staff<\/h3>\n

Also retiring are the following faculty and staff (position listed is most recent held): Linda Alley<\/a>, administrative assistant for events, director of the Summer Institute for Spiritual Formation and of the Congregational Resource Center, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, 27 years; Professor Don Clymer<\/a>, Department of Language and Literature, 17 years; Professor Spencer Cowles, Department of Business, 27 years; Jan Gerber, information officer, 23 years; Professor David Glanzer<\/a>, co-founder of the MA in Counseling program (39 years); Professor Ted Grimsrud, Department of Bible and Religion, 20 years; Betty Hertzler<\/a>, postal supervisor, 41 years; Eldon Kurtz<\/a>, director of the physical plant, 28 years; Jack Rutt<\/a>, special projects support, 17 years; and Pamela Rutt, assistant director of the education graduate program at EMU Lancaster, 18 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All those years ago, the trajectory of Roman Miller\u2019s young career had seemed so clear. He\u2019d finished undergraduate and master\u2019s degrees in biology and earned a PhD from Kent State ... read more about A mentor to future doctors and health professionals, biology professor Roman Miller retires after 31 years at EMU<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5590,12579,5640],"tags":[9491],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-27846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-biology","category-pre-professional-health","category-suter-science-center","tag-roman-miller"],"yoast_head":"\nA mentor to future doctors and health professionals, biology professor Roman Miller retires after 31 years at EMU - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/a-mentor-to-future-doctors-and-health-professionals-biology-professor-roman-miller-retires-after-31-years-at-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A mentor to future doctors and health professionals, biology professor Roman Miller retires after 31 years at EMU - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All those years ago, the trajectory of Roman Miller\u2019s young career had seemed so clear. 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