Brian Miller
Phone: (408)855-5247
Email: [email protected]
Office Location: GC-337
Department: Humanities, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts
Brian Craig Miller joined Mission College as the Dean of Instruction on August 1, 2016. He is enormously excited and grateful for the opportunity to work on several initiatives, including supporting and advocating on behalf of the Liberal Arts, the Basic Skills Initiative and the Basic Skills Transformation Grant.
The grant enhances recruitment and retention efforts on behalf of students, and works with the community of Santa Clara (where he calls home) on cultural programming that benefits both the community and the student population. Prior to his journey to California, he taught American History in Kansas and Mississippi. View his C.V. for more details.
Brian is the editor of the journal Civil War History and serves as a co-editor for the book series The Civil War Era in the South.
He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books, including the well-received Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South, which was a finalist for the Jefferson Davis Book Award from the American Civil War Museum. His other books include A Punishment on the Nation: An Iowa Soldier Endures the Civil War, John Bell Hood and the Fight for Civil War Memory, and The American Memory: Americans and Their History to 1877 .
He is currently finishing a book about Walt Disney and the construction of Civil War memory, that will explore how Disney has used the memory of the Civil War in shaping film, television, and theme-park attractions. He also plans to work on a larger project on The United Confederate Veterans. His research and writing has been supported by numerous fellowships and grants, including a Mellon Fellowship from the Huntington Library in San Marin, California.
Education
- Ph.D. 19th Century U.S. History
- The University of Mississippi
- M.A. History
- The University of Mississippi, History
- B.A. History
- The Pennsylvania State University
Fast Facts
Brian is attempting to run a half marathon in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia). He has covered 23 states so far, with his most recent run in Honolulu, HI.
Brian loves hiking in our National Parks (he has visited over 75 different parks across the continent) or spending his weekends at Disneyland (he can usually be found in line for Dole Whip). He is an avid theater goer, a huge film buff, a Parks and Rec and Seinfeld binge watcher, a foodie, a trivia junkie, and a dabbler in cooking, The Settlers of Catan, and making the most of everyday.
Favorite Quote
"I have just read your dispatch about sore tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?" - Abraham Lincoln to Union General George B. McClellan
"Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail." - John Muir in Our National Parks