Dignity Equity Healing
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Robin Lin Miller, PhD Professor Emerita Department of Psychology Michigan State University Evaluation Consultant End-of-Life Doula |
114 Ocean Walk when my parents bought it
I am committed to confronting structural injustice and advancing equity. My approach to these commitments is enacted in partnership with communities most affected by HIV. Working together, we generate rigorous, community-centered evidence that can strengthen their self-determined efforts and affirm their rights. My motivation is rooted in early experiences of discrimination and exposure to suffering that results from stigma and social exclusion. These experiences continue to guide me to act with humility, integrity, compassion, and respect for the dignity and value of every person.
My earliest experiences shaped my motivations and commitments. I was deeply troubled by the discrimination I faced as a person of mixed White and Black ancestry and that others in my family experienced as racial minorities. Addressing the structural injustices I perceived became a core motivation, as did demonstrating respect for the dignity and value of others. I was also profoundly shaped by summering in Fire Island Pines from my birth through to my mother’s premature death when I was in my mid-30s. My family first lived in the old Osborne home on Shady Walk at the westernmost edge of the Pines. As graduate students, my parents met in one of Dr. Osborne's classes. He and his wife, also a professor and my mom's undergraduate advisor, generously allowed us to use their home until my parents could afford to buy one of their own. Eventually my parents bought a little house at 114 Ocean Walk.
My love of ocean swimming and body surfing was born at Fire Island, along with a passion for all-night dance parties. As a kid, I used to meet the incoming ferries on Friday nights with my Radio Flyer wagon. For a quarter or sometimes even a dollar, I would pull men’s belongings to their house in my wagon. I saw the very first drag invasion of the Pines. As a teen, I worked for the late Myron Tucker who owned the Pines Pantry. I worked the all-night shift at his ice cream shop, the Encounter, underneath his grocery store next to the Boatel and where the water taxis shuttling to and from Cherry Grove dock. I staffed the Encounter for most of my adolescence and into early adulthood. I witnessed the HIV epidemic's emergence and early toll on the Fire Island Pines community. I started volunteering by helping to raise funds with friends at college and by distributing condoms and educational leaflets to houses in the Pines starting in 1982. I worked at Gay Men’s Health Crisis during most of my time in graduate school. I served as the program evaluation lead for the Department of Education and was privileged to serve as the founding director of GMHC's first Department of Evaluation. Working at Gay Men’s Health Crisis shoulder to shoulder with brilliant and dedicated activists and community leaders from 1987 to 1994 sealed my commitment to fight for the health and human rights of LGBTQ communities and to support the development of community-led solutions to the challenges posed by the epidemic.
I am now a Professor Emerita of Psychology at Michigan State University, where I directed graduate training in community psychology and co-led graduate training in program evaluation for over a decade. I was previously a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago following my years at GMHC. Including my time at GMHC, I have devoted 39 years studying approaches to addressing the needs of members of HIV-affected communities, mostly Black and Brown and queer communities, in multiple regions of the world. I especially enjoy generating knowledge on initiatives designed and run by members of these communities and collaborating with them in the knowledge generation process. I am committed to using evaluation to support communities’ ability to learn and improve their homegrown efforts, as well as document their strengths and challenges. I was honored to receive the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Practice Award from the American Evaluation Association for lifetime achievement in advancing evaluation practice with and for LGBTQ communities. Other recognition of my work include elected membership in the international Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship and fellow of the American Psychological Association, Society for Community Research and Action, and Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and an exemplary project from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards for my collaborative evaluation partnership with eight LGBTQ-led HIV-focused civil society organizations in Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States.
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS
EDUCATION
PhD, New York University, 1994
Community Psychology. Minor: Quantitative Methods.
MA, New York University, 1988
Community Psychology
BA, Sarah Lawrence College, 1983
Liberal Arts.
SELECTED PRIZES AND AWARDS
2026 Fellow, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Division 9), American Psychological Association.
2025 Elected Member, Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship.
2023 Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award, American Evaluation Association.
2022 Exemplary Project W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award, Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and Engagement Scholarship Consortium.
2022 All University Community Engagement Scholarship Award, Office of the Provost, Michigan State University.
2022 Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Research, Office of University of Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University.
2018 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Michigan State University.
2016 Ethnic Minority Mentorship Award, Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27), American Psychological Association.
2011 Robert Ingle Service Award for contributions to the evaluation profession, American Evaluation Association.
2007 Fellow, American Psychological Association.
2007 Fellow, Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27), American Psychological Association.
2000 Humanitarian Research Award, Illinois Psychological Association.
1998 Living the Mission Award for outstanding volunteer service, The Night Ministry, Chicago, Illinois.
1996 Marcia Guttentag Award for outstanding career promise, American Evaluation Association.
Please use the link below for a copy of my current CV:
miller_vita_2026_august.pdf
My earliest experiences shaped my motivations and commitments. I was deeply troubled by the discrimination I faced as a person of mixed White and Black ancestry and that others in my family experienced as racial minorities. Addressing the structural injustices I perceived became a core motivation, as did demonstrating respect for the dignity and value of others. I was also profoundly shaped by summering in Fire Island Pines from my birth through to my mother’s premature death when I was in my mid-30s. My family first lived in the old Osborne home on Shady Walk at the westernmost edge of the Pines. As graduate students, my parents met in one of Dr. Osborne's classes. He and his wife, also a professor and my mom's undergraduate advisor, generously allowed us to use their home until my parents could afford to buy one of their own. Eventually my parents bought a little house at 114 Ocean Walk.
My love of ocean swimming and body surfing was born at Fire Island, along with a passion for all-night dance parties. As a kid, I used to meet the incoming ferries on Friday nights with my Radio Flyer wagon. For a quarter or sometimes even a dollar, I would pull men’s belongings to their house in my wagon. I saw the very first drag invasion of the Pines. As a teen, I worked for the late Myron Tucker who owned the Pines Pantry. I worked the all-night shift at his ice cream shop, the Encounter, underneath his grocery store next to the Boatel and where the water taxis shuttling to and from Cherry Grove dock. I staffed the Encounter for most of my adolescence and into early adulthood. I witnessed the HIV epidemic's emergence and early toll on the Fire Island Pines community. I started volunteering by helping to raise funds with friends at college and by distributing condoms and educational leaflets to houses in the Pines starting in 1982. I worked at Gay Men’s Health Crisis during most of my time in graduate school. I served as the program evaluation lead for the Department of Education and was privileged to serve as the founding director of GMHC's first Department of Evaluation. Working at Gay Men’s Health Crisis shoulder to shoulder with brilliant and dedicated activists and community leaders from 1987 to 1994 sealed my commitment to fight for the health and human rights of LGBTQ communities and to support the development of community-led solutions to the challenges posed by the epidemic.
I am now a Professor Emerita of Psychology at Michigan State University, where I directed graduate training in community psychology and co-led graduate training in program evaluation for over a decade. I was previously a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago following my years at GMHC. Including my time at GMHC, I have devoted 39 years studying approaches to addressing the needs of members of HIV-affected communities, mostly Black and Brown and queer communities, in multiple regions of the world. I especially enjoy generating knowledge on initiatives designed and run by members of these communities and collaborating with them in the knowledge generation process. I am committed to using evaluation to support communities’ ability to learn and improve their homegrown efforts, as well as document their strengths and challenges. I was honored to receive the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Practice Award from the American Evaluation Association for lifetime achievement in advancing evaluation practice with and for LGBTQ communities. Other recognition of my work include elected membership in the international Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship and fellow of the American Psychological Association, Society for Community Research and Action, and Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and an exemplary project from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards for my collaborative evaluation partnership with eight LGBTQ-led HIV-focused civil society organizations in Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States.
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS
- HIV/AIDS
- Sexual health
- AIDS community-based and community-led interventions
- Program evaluation theory and practice
- LGBTQI health concerns
EDUCATION
PhD, New York University, 1994
Community Psychology. Minor: Quantitative Methods.
MA, New York University, 1988
Community Psychology
BA, Sarah Lawrence College, 1983
Liberal Arts.
SELECTED PRIZES AND AWARDS
2026 Fellow, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Division 9), American Psychological Association.
2025 Elected Member, Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship.
2023 Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Evaluation Practice Award, American Evaluation Association.
2022 Exemplary Project W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award, Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and Engagement Scholarship Consortium.
2022 All University Community Engagement Scholarship Award, Office of the Provost, Michigan State University.
2022 Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Research, Office of University of Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University.
2018 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Michigan State University.
2016 Ethnic Minority Mentorship Award, Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27), American Psychological Association.
2011 Robert Ingle Service Award for contributions to the evaluation profession, American Evaluation Association.
2007 Fellow, American Psychological Association.
2007 Fellow, Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27), American Psychological Association.
2000 Humanitarian Research Award, Illinois Psychological Association.
1998 Living the Mission Award for outstanding volunteer service, The Night Ministry, Chicago, Illinois.
1996 Marcia Guttentag Award for outstanding career promise, American Evaluation Association.
Please use the link below for a copy of my current CV:
miller_vita_2026_august.pdf