UNK prof earns national honors

KEARNEY, Neb. — Richard Miller, a University of Nebraska at Kearney psychology professor, is the first Nebraska educator to be named a U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

The prestigious award has been given for nearly 30 years.

Miller, who chairs the Department of Psychology, and three other winners were honored Thursday in Washington, D.C. He received the Outstanding Master's Universities and Colleges Professor of the Year.

The other awards went to professors at the University of Montana Western, Collin College in Frisco, Texas, and the University of Michigan.

Each winner received $5,000 from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Judges select national and state winners based on four criteria: impact on and involvement with undergraduate students; scholarly approach to teaching and learning; contributions to undergraduate education in the institution, community and profession; and support from colleagues, and current and former undergraduate students.

Miller has been described as “an engaging teacher who challenges his students to think critically about the material they encounter.”

Earlier this year, he received the national Robert S. Daniel Award for outstanding teaching in a four-year college or university. The award was from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association.

Miller also has received the top UNK teaching and mentoring awards and the University of Nebraska Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award. Under his leadership, the department has received the UNK Departmental Teaching Award four times.

Miller has earned several research awards, co-edited two books and written or co-written more than 70 book chapters and journal articles.

Since 1990, he has directed nearly 200 undergraduate research projects. In addition, nearly 30 of his students have had their work published in professional psychology journals.

Members of the UNK Department of Psychology recently summed up Miller's influence: “Richard Miller is both an exemplary academic citizen and an outstanding scholar-teacher. He is the kind of person who makes a difference. He certainly has made a difference for us.”

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