# Sj Miller

sj Miller, Ph.D (born March 20, 1970) is an American academic, public speaker, social justice activist, gender identity justice advocate, and Professor of Teacher Education at the Santa Fe Community College.
According to TEDMED, Miller is considered to be the formative researcher, nationally and internationally, on the intersections of gender identity (in Pre-K through higher education), public policy, and mental health.

## Early life and education

Miller was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, attending Pinon Elementary, Capshaw Middle School and Santa Fe High School. Miller taught middle and high school English for eight years before going on to earn a PhD in Educational Thought and Socio-Cultural Studies from the University of New Mexico.
Miller medically transitioned from female toward male while working as an assistant professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Miller was disowned by their family after coming out as agender-transgender.

## Career

Miller has been an elementary, middle school, and secondary classroom history and English teacher. Miller is a researcher on gender identity in pre-K-12 schooling and across higher educational contexts within education.
Miller has held teaching positions at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and as associate professor of literacy studies at University of Colorado Boulder. In 2016, Miller was hired as Deputy Director of Educational Equity at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University.
As of 2019, Miller is a Professor of Teacher Education in the Teacher Academy at Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and holds an additional appointment teaching online courses in the teacher education program at the University of Washington Bothell School of Educational Studies.

## Advocacy

In the fall of 2010, Miller helped draft the Beliefs Statement about Social Justice in English Education and helped pass the Resolution on Social Justice in Literacy Education, which informed the newly-vetted CAEP Social Justice Standard 6-the first ever standard in the United States that advances social justice work in teacher preparation for the National Council of Teachers of English. In April 2016, Miller was selected for a project hosted by UNESCO-MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development) to integrate social justice education into the mainstream school curriculum. Currently, Miller serves on the governing board of the Human Rights Alliance in Santa Fe.
Miller has written and spoken about the impact of bullying on youth, particularly young people whose gender identities are nonconforming and those in the LGBTQIA+ community.

## Selected awards and recognition

* 2000: Human Right's Award, Santa Fe, NM.
* 2001: Mayor's Award, Santa Fe, NM.
* 2004: PFLAG Honoring Diversity Award, Santa Fe, NM.
* 2005: Paul and Kate Farmer English Journal Writing Award, Article of the Year, "Shattering Images of Violence in Young Adult Literature: Strategies for the Classroom"
* 2006: APEX Writing Award for Young Adult Literature.
* 2007: Richard A. Meade award, National Council on Teacher Education, "Unpacking the Loaded Teacher Matrix: Negotiating Space and Time Between University and Secondary English Classrooms"
* 2008: Best Book from International Writing Centers Association Scholarship Award, Unpacking the Loaded Teacher Matrix: Negotiating Space and Time Between University and Secondary English Classrooms.
* 2012: Generation Bullied 2.0. Awarded Essential Book for Professionals Who Serve Teens, by Voices of Youth Advocate Magazine.
* 2015: Joanne Arnold Courage and Commitment Award, University of Colorado Boulder
* 2017: Exemplary Research Award, American Educational Research Association, Division K, Teaching and Teacher Education, "Teaching, Affirming and Recognizing Trans and Gender Creative Youth: A Queer Literacy Framework"
* 2018: Outstanding Book Award, Michigan Council Teachers of English Teaching, Affirming and Recognizing Trans and Gender Creative Youth: A Queer Literacy Framework.
* 2019: AERA Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award

## Selected books

* Miller, s. (2019). about gender identity justice in schools and communities. New York: Teacher College Press.
* Miller, s. Mayo, C., Hoskin, R., & Green, J. (2019). Navigating trans*$^+$ and complex gender identities. Bloomsbury: U.K.
* Miller, s., & Rodriguez, N. (Eds.). (2016). Educators queering academia: Critical memoirs. New York: Peter Lang.
* Miller, s. (Ed.). (2018). Enseñando, afirmando, y reconociendo a jóvenes trans* y de género creative: Un marco de enseñanza queer(A. Stevenson Valdés, Trans). Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado.
* Miller, s. (Ed.). (2016). Teaching, affirming, and recognizing trans and gender creative youth: A queer literacy framework. New York: PalgraveMacmillan.
* Miller, s., Burns, L., & Johnson, T.S. (2013). Generation BULLIED 2.0: Prevention and intervention strategies for our most vulnerable students. New York: Peter Lang.
* Miller, s. & Kirkland, D. (Eds.). (2010). Change matters: Critical essays on moving social justice research from theory to policy. New York: Peter Lang.
* Miller, s., Beliveau, L., DeStigter, T., Kirkland, D., & Rice, P. (2008). Narratives of social justice teaching: How English teachers negotiate theory and practice between preservice and inservice spaces. New York: Peter Lang.
* Miller, s., & Norris, L. (2007). Unpacking the loaded teacher matrix: Negotiating space and time between university and secondary English classrooms. New York: Peter Lang.

## Selected publications

* Miller, s. (May 2005). "Shattering Images of Violence in Young Adult Literature: Strategies for the Classroom". English Journal. 94 (5): 87–93. doi:10.2307/30047360. JSTOR 30047360.
* Miller, sj; Williamson, Peter; George, Marshall; King, Jennifer; Charest, Brian; Bieler, Deborah; Bolf-Beliveau, Laura (October 2011). "Applying the CEE Position Statement "Beliefs about Social Justice in English Education" to Classroom Praxis". English Education. 44 (1): 63–82. doi:10.58680/ee201117876. JSTOR 23238723.
* Miller, s (2012). "Mythology of the norm: Disrupting the culture of bullying in schools". English Journal. 101 (6): 107–109. doi:10.58680/ej201220561.
* Miller, sj; Alsup, Janet (April 2014). "Reclaiming English Education: Rooting Social Justice in Dispositions". English Education. 46 (3). NCTE: 195–215. doi:10.58680/ee201424659.
* Miller, s (2014). "Text complexity and "comparable literary merit" in young adult literature". The ALAN Review. 41 (2): 44–55. doi:10.21061/alan.v41i2.a.5.
* Miller, s (2015). "A queer literacy framework promoting (a)gender and (a)sexuality self-determination and justice". English Journal. 104 (3): 37–44. doi:10.58680/ej201527209.
* Burns, L., & Miller, s. (2017). Social justice policymaking in teacher education from conception to application: Realizing Standard VI. Teachers College Record, 119(2), 1-38.
* Miller, s., Mayo, C., & Lugg, C. (2017). Sex and gender in transition in US schools: Ways forward. Sex Education, 18(4), 345-359.
* National Council Teachers of English. (2018). NCTE statement on gender and language. Urbana: IL.
* Miller, s. (2018). Reframing schooling to liberate gender identity. Multicultural Perspectives, 20(2), 70-80
* Poteat, P.V., Calzo. P.J., Yoshikawa, H., Miller, s., Ceccolini, C., Rosenbach, S., & Mauceri, N. (2018). Discussing transgender topics within gay-straight alliances: Factors that could promote more frequent conversations. International Journal of Transgenderism.
* Miller, s. (2018). Gender identityWOKE: A theory of trans*$^+$ for animating literacy practices. In D. Alvermann, NJ Unrau, M. Sailors and R. Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of literacy edition 7 (pp. 403–418). New York: Routledge.
* Miller, s. (2019). The impact and role of emotions in schools for teachers and students with complex gender identities. Teachers College Record,121 (13).
* Miller, s. (2019) Trans*$^+$ and gender identity diverse students' right to use a Bathroom: Debating human dignity. In M. Levinson and J. Fay (Eds.), Democratic discord in schools: Cases and commentaries in educational ethics (pp. 191–194.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Press.
* Miller, s. (2020). Gender identity complexities turn. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies,26 (2), 239-242.
* Miller, s. (2020). Gender Identity is trans-sectional turn: Expanding the theory of trans*ness into literacy practice. In C. Mayo and M. Blackburn (Eds.), Queer, trans and intersectional theory in educational practice ( pp. 35–49). New York: Routledge.

## Book series editor

* Miller, s. (Ed.). Spaces In-between: Beyond Binary Gender Identities and Sexualities Series. Teachers College Press: New York, NY.
* Miller, s. & Burns, L. (Eds.). Social Justice Across Contexts in Education. Peter Lang: New York, NY.

## Personal life

Miller enjoys participating in sports and fitness activities, including swimming, running, and cycling, and was formerly an All-American high school soccer player who played Division 1 Soccer at U.C. Berkeley. Miller is also a cat trainer and has their own catparkour training business.
Miller is agender and nullpronominal (does not use any personal pronouns).