Rodney E. Miller, Ph.D.

Dr. Rodney Miller is currently in his eleventh year as the Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Wichita State University, one of the three major research universities of the state of Kansas. During Dr. Miller’s tenure, the College of Fine Arts has doubled both its total endowment and the number of endowed scholarships, received its first endowed professorships, and had capitol renovations of twelve million dollars, including a new music library and state-of-the-art black block theater. He came to WSU from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he served as Dean of the College of Fine Arts & Humanities for six years. While there the college established new degrees in Philosophy, Multimedia, and the first terminal degree offered by the university – an MFA in creative writing, delivered completely online. Prior to that he was the Director of Vocal Studies at New York University, supervising a program of 350 majors and forty-four faculty.

Dr. Miller received his Ph.D. from Illinois State University, an MM from Indiana University and a BM from West Texas State University. He is a veteran of the professional operatic stage, and his career has taken him throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. His repertoire of nearly fifty roles includes, among others, Mephistopheles, Figaro, and Emil deBeque. He has been on national broadcasts both in the United States and in Europe, and has recorded for labels in both the United States and Europe. He began his professional career with Chautauqua Opera in New York as Don Basilio in Barber of Seville. Students from his vocal studio have gone on to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, Broadway and numerous opera and musical theatre venues all over the U. S. as well as serving on the faculty of numerous universities. Although his academic and professional performing experiences are in opera and related fields, his Ph.D. is in higher education administration. Consequently, his record of scholarly/creative activity scans a very broad spectrum from performing to referred articles, from opera to quantitative statistical analysis. His interests include 20th Century American vocal music, both popular and classical, as well as administrative theory as it applies to American Higher Education.