Ryan A. Miller

Ryan A. Miller, Ph.D., is Professor of Higher Education and Ph.D. Program Coordinator at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Informed by his background as a student affairs practitioner and first-generation college graduate, Ryan’s scholarship focuses on how systems of oppression shape the experiences of minoritized social groups in higher education (primarily LGBTQ+ and disabled students) as well as the (de)institutionalization of diversity and equity initiatives. He has produced more than 70 publications on these topics, with his research appearing in AERA Open, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, The Review of Higher Education, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

Nationally, Ryan serves as vice chair for the Council for the Advancement of Higher Education Programs and associate editor (and former editor) of the College Student Affairs Journal. He is an Emerging Scholar for ACPA College Student Educators International and a former Fellow of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. Ryan’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, John M. Belk Endowment, ACPA, NASPA, and the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan.

Prior to joining the University of Tennessee, Ryan was a faculty member for nine years at UNC Charlotte and an administrator for eight years at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Florida. He holds graduate degrees in higher education administration from UT-Austin and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ryan received the 2016 Melvene D. Hardee Dissertation of the Year award from NASPA for his research about disabled LGBTQ+ students; the 2019 Early Career Faculty award from the UNC Charlotte Cato College of Education; the 2023 Outstanding Publication Award from the NASPA Faculty Assembly; and was named the Bonnie E. Cone Early Career Professor in Teaching at UNC Charlotte in 2023.