Paul A. Miller

Paul Ausborn Miller (March 22, 1917 – June 5, 2015) was an American academic administrator who served as the 6th president of the Rochester Institute of Technology from 1969–1979. He oversaw the completion of the move of the campus to Henrietta and the steady growth of RIT between 1969 and 1981.

Early life and education Born in East Liverpool, Ohio, Miller spent most of his childhood on a small family farm in West Virginia. His father operated the farm part-time and supplemented the family's income with factory work. As a boy, he participated in 4-H. Miller attended Bethany College before earning a bachelor's degree in agriculture from West Virginia University in 1939.

Career Miller's first job was as an agent at the agricultural extensions for Ritchie and Nicholas Counties. In 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps as a navigator.

After World War II ended, he studied for a doctorate in anthropology and sociology at Michigan State College. After graduating in 1953, Miller worked as a professor of Sociology at Michigan State, becoming director of the Cooperative Extension and eventually provost.

He helped establish the Colombian Institute of Agriculture in Bogotá and the Morogoro Institute of Technology in Tanzania. Miller inherited a nearly 12% budget deficit, the result of declining enrollment, higher attrition, and higher costs for the new campus which resulted in several years of austerity. Additionally, Miller quelled student demonstrations in the wake of the Kent State shootings worked to form Greater Rochester Fights Back, an anti-drug advocacy group, and served on the board of trustees of both Nazareth College and Monroe Savings Bank. and the Paul A. and Francena L. Miller Presidential Scholarship at WVU in 2006.

Personal life Miller married Catherine Spiker and raised a son and a daughter. He later married social science professor Francena Lounsbery.

He moved to Montrose, Colorado in 2011.

Selected works