About Dr. sj Miller

Though born in New Orleans, Louisiana, I spent my formative years in Santa Fe, NM. I was a stand-out soccer player and swimmer and was awarded a full ride to play soccer at U.C. Berkeley. Graduating with a B.A. in Social Sciences and a Minor in Psychology, I went on to receive my Masters at the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, California. In 1994, I moved back to Santa Fe and started my career teaching Hebrew School while working on my elementary and secondary teaching licensures in Language Arts, Social Studies and Coaching at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque. I then went on to teach middle school history, and eventually, found my passion teaching high school Advanced Placement (AP) Literature and Composition, Humanities and a variety of different 9-12th grade classes. During my time as a high school teacher and to support myself, I coached men’s and women’s varsity soccer at Santa Fe High School, continued to teach many different grades of Hebrew school, and tutored youth to become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah.

In 1998, I began doing professional development workshops for the College Board in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. I then became a table leader for the AP Lit and Comp reading (and have now read for 19 years). After many years of consulting, I decided it was time for me to pursue my Ph.D., at UNM in secondary English Education. While working on my doctorate and teaching at the University, I kept my high school classroom and completed my degree in 2005.

I then moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to teach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) in the English Education program. I taught undergraduate and graduate courses in young adult literature, reading and writing methods, critical pedagogy, and popular culture for educators, and directed the Masters in English Education program. As I was moving in rank from Assistant to a tenured, Associate Professor, I socially and medically transitioned to appear male, while I simultaneously came to understand that I identify as trans-agender, which is a moving away from, and a refusal to identify with a gender. As a result of my medical and social transitions, I incurred countless microaggressions from within the institution. Needing a fresh start, I decided to move toward a different position at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), where I worked in Secondary Urban and English Education teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in urban teacher education, secondary methods, the teaching of reading, and the teacher of writing. During my time there, the University of Colorado, Boulder invited me for a position, which is where I then went to teach as a secondary Urban and English Education Literary specialist in the Curriculum and Instruction Program. I taught undergraduate and graduate courses in methods, linguistics for educators, and doctoral seminars with a focus on Urban teacher education. From Boulder, I left on a grant-funded research and teaching contracted position at New York University (NYU) where I served as Deputy Director of the Center for Research on Equity in Teacher Education for the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, and as a Research Professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. I was fortunate to work with individuals from across the campus who served students in myriad capacities while I was building a teacher education equity study to assess perspectives of equity in their teacher education and education leadership programs. Upon completion of the grant, I accepted the position as Faculty Associate, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Master of Science, Dual Teacher Certification Program in Secondary English Education and English as a Second Language at The University of Wisconsin-Madison in the School of Education’s Curriculum & Instruction, UWTeach program. I have now moved back to my claimed home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and after some deep soul-searching, have made an “academic turn.” I now work, truly on the ground, at our local Santa Fe Community College, where I am a Professor of Teacher Education in the Teacher Academy. Our program works with undergraduate and graduate students across the state who are completing their teaching licensure.

I present on my own research, provide tailored professional development and give keynotes on topics related to culture, race, and class at the intersections/tran*+sections of (1). Gender identity complexity across theory, pedagogy, curriculum and policy in pre-K- 12th and university contexts (2). Trans*+ and gender creative/expansive pre K-12th grade and university students, (3). LGBT*+IAGCQ topics (4). Teaching social justice and equity pedagogy in education, (5). Anti-bullying and (6). Disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline.

Currently, I am on the Editorial Board for the National Education Policy Center, consult on the research project: A novel approach for equitable characterization of gender and its use in exposing subgroup discrepancies in polygenic score associations, funded by National Human Genome Research Institute; and, yes, writing again!

 I have a deep love for my cats, Slate, Tazzy, and Einstein and often learn about life from training and watching them. They have taught me about stillness and peace, and how important play is for the spirit. I love staying fit and enjoy biking, running, swimming, lifting and hiking in the mountains…

Of great importance to me through it all, is the building of intentional communities guided by intention, social justice, and love….