A.T. Miller promotes inclusion in forums for vice president and chief diversity officer position


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Andrew Miller, Pd.D speaks for a candidacida​l evaluation for Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer on March 28 at the Bovee University Center.

A.T. Miller said his experiences with diversity in his life and career have helped him pursue different programs to promote inclusion in the workplace.

Miller, assistant vice provost of academic diversity at Cornell University, interviewed for Central Michigan University’s newly created vice president and chief diversity officer position through forums March 28 in the Bovee University Center.

Miller has experience at the University of Michigan, Union College and Davidson College.

A University of Pennsylvania alumnus, Miller said he has worked with faculty at CMU in the past and a consultant for Teaching for Inclusion. 

If he were hired at CMU, Miller said he would advocate for events with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe — having worked a lot with the Ojibwe Language program during his time at Michigan. Miller believes the use of the Chippewas as the name is something that could be reviewed.

Miller said he is interested in the position at CMU because he wants to work at an institution that is more accessible.

“The idea of bringing things I have learned and experiences I have gained to where the action is,” Miller said.

Miller also discussed people with disabilities in his forums. He said Admissions needs to make it clear that CMU has accommodations for people with disabilities. Miller said the more that students with disabilities come in, the easier it will be for teachers to see it as a normal thing. He said Disability Services needs to be available to everyone, not just students, and that teachers also need to look at resources.

Miller said there are many things that can be improved without funding — just by listening to each other.

“When you improve things for people who are disabled, everyone’s lives improve,” he said.

Miller also said he wants to make childbearing easier for faculty who are trying to balance work and parent. He said he is in favor of bringing a caregiver to conferences so a professor can speak at a conference and still bring their baby along.

Miller said global disparities are an important part of any field and there are a lot of ways to draw people into it.

“If recruiters know your students have certain skills, they will flock to your school,” he said.

Miller was at Michigan when Affirmative Action was banned. He helped craft a new diversity program to address that.

“We didn’t want to cut off pipelines because people were afraid of a lawsuit,” Miller said.

At Michigan, Miller said he learned that women and minority students left science programs because their lab partners would not let others use equipment. He said he responded by encouraging more inclusive policy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

At Cornell, Miller said he had an initiative to promote inclusion with staff and made it an annual report. He also changed the name of the campus garden, which was originally Cornell Plantations.

Miller was the third of four candidates to interview for the position. 

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