Editor's note: This story was updated on 3:35 p.m. on Oct. 28 to clarify OU Daily coverage on the Gaylord College letter.
Andrea Miller’s family valued education highly. When the time came to decide what to do after high school, she was unsure of her next steps.
“I had been involved in ballet for a really long time, so I thought about dance, … but I was also a really good writer. I was in the newspaper in high school. I was on the yearbook staff but didn’t think much about it,” Miller said.
After her dad suggested pursuing a career in journalism, Miller attended Texas A&M University and worked as a journalist for 10 years. Then, she went back to education and started working in higher learning as a professor, slowly rising into administrative positions.
Now, three months after Miller started as the new dean of Gaylord College, she aspires to connect with students and faculty and foster a better sense of community within the college.
“I’m hoping to lead the faculty and staff in areas that they’re excited about, and then that creates more opportunities for our students' success and their own success,” Miller said.
During her time at Texas A&M, Miller worked in the college’s newspaper, The Battalion, where she covered the university’s board of regents.
Miller also started at Texas A&M’s KAMU-TV, a PBS TV station in College Station, Texas, where she began as a videotape editor and would report and anchor on the weekends. Miller said she struggled with transitioning from college to professional journalism.
“In College Station and in my internships, you’re not doing live shots, and when you get your first job and they want you to do a live shot, you don’t have any training really in that,” Miller said.
Miller worked at two Dallas-Fort Worth market stations, WFAA-TV in 1993 and then KTVT-TV in 1994, where she became a producer.
Throughout her journalism career, Miller worked at all levels of news production, searching for the right fit. Finally, she found her place as a producer — working behind the camera, writing, building the show and working with reporters out on the field.
“I wanted to be a reporter and an anchor, and that’s kind of how I started my career, but I found I was better behind the scenes,” Miller said.
Of her many memories of the stories she worked on, Miller believes her most impactful ones come from the time she was a producer in Dallas.
Miller remembers helping cover the Amber Hagerman case, which led to the AMBER alert program. She believes those stories were very formative for her as they led her into her research area, crisis coverage and communication.
“At that time, the (Dallas Cowboys) were winning Super Bowls. … It was a time period in Dallas where sports was at the absolute highlight. Then it was also a time when the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine (High School shooting) happened. All of these things that we think back and think that are so long ago,” Miller said.
Dean Andrea Miller during interview with Ana Barboza on Aug. 26
When she attended college, Miller said there was a lack of undergraduate professors with television experience. Since Miller had thought of getting her master’s degree someday, she decided to get into higher education.
While pursuing her master’s, two of Miller’s professors suggested she should get her doctorate, leading her to the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
In a group of 12 students on orientation day, Miller said the then-associate dean of the college started naming those who were going to start teaching some classes.
“And then she says, ‘Andrea,’” Miller said.
Miller looked around, thinking the associate dean was talking about someone else. Miller then realized they were referring to her.
“Nobody told me I was teaching. … This (was) Thursday, and they had me teaching as the instructor of a media writing class on Monday,” Miller said. “I had never taught before. Fortunately, there is a syllabus that comes with it and you just kind of make it your own and play to your own strength.”
Three days into the program and already teaching a class, Miller said she knew she made the right decision.
Throughout her time as a professor at the University of Missouri, Miller taught media writing, introduction to media, social responsibility and master’s courses.
Miller then moved to work at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communications as the adviser of the college’s student-run television station. There, she taught mostly broadcast classes. As Miller moved into an administrative position, she would teach media writing or other freshman classes.
Miller created a crisis communication class at LSU that was offered to journalism, public relations and advertising majors. Miller said the class wasn’t just focused on crisis coverage but also reputation management. She said the class was usually for seniors and master’s students.
“I had this really interesting dynamic of teaching those on their way in and those on their way out,” Miller said.
Miller said she called upon her extensive journalism experience while teaching, prioritizing introducing students to new and dynamic methods of reporting.
“Journalists in general, we love to learn, so we always are thinking about new ways to do things (and exciting) ways to engage students,” Miller said. “I always tried to keep everything fresh and interesting and didn’t rely on just old stories from way back. … I really tried to focus on making the news of the day and the crisis situations of the day relevant.”
Miller said her peers at LSU gave her more administrative tasks because “they knew they would get done, and they would get done in the right way.” When the associate dean of the journalism school left the college, people turned to Miller.
“People just told me, ‘You need to apply,’ and so I did,” Miller said. She served in the position for eight years.
Miller said what she misses the most about being a professor is interacting with students.
“When you have a class, you get to know those students a little bit better when you have them for 16 weeks in a semester. I don’t get that as much in administration,” Miller said. “It’s different in that I will get to know the students in kind of a different format.”
Miller joined the University of North Texas in 2019 as the dean of Mayborn School of Journalism. There, she helped the broadcast journalism courses grow by securing grants, new equipment and spaces for students and expanding student resources. She was dean for five years before applying for a deanship at Gaylord College.
Although Tracy Everbach worked as a journalism professor at Mayborn School of Journalism for 20 years, she has known Miller since graduate school.
Everbach said they had classes together and were neighbors during their time at the University of Missouri.
“Sometimes I would babysit for them and/or play with (Miller’s kids). It was really fun to live next door to (Miller and her family),” Everbach said.
Everbach said Miller brought her professional experience, intellect and study habits to their graduate program. She said Miller was the most outstanding student in the program.
Miller previously talked to Everbach about wanting to apply for the position in Mayborn. Everbach said she was very excited when Miller was announced as dean.
“Here was someone I knew well who was coming to be our dean,” Everbach said.
Everbach said Miller was a stabilizing force during a time of upheaval at Mayborn with the COVID-19 pandemic. She said Miller had a definite plan for how the school was going to be run and communicated it well to faculty and staff.
“We tried to carry out all of her plans as best we could,” Everbach said. “She just gave us a lot of stability and leadership.”
For dean, provost or even university president positions, Miller said deans get emails from search firms very often, but she said she wasn’t interested.
“I had just gotten reappointed, … and I wasn’t really thinking about going anywhere,” Miller said. “But I had some people reach out to me and said maybe I should pay attention to this one.”
Miller believes someone suggested her name for the Gaylord College dean search because a recruiter emailed her to make an appointment to talk about the position. She said the more she researched, the more she found out about what the college offers to students.
“I knew (about) Gaylord, and I knew all the good things it was doing, but I didn't know the extent to what Gaylord was doing and how well they’re doing across all of these different areas,” Miller said. “The more I looked into that, the more excited I got about the position.”
Miller decided to apply for the position and was officially hired in April.
Dean Andrea Miller during interview with Ana Barboza on Aug. 26
David Craig, former Gaylord College interim dean, said his first impression of Miller was very positive. He said he had a number of opportunities to talk to her and tried to help her by giving her background information.
“I was at the faculty-staff retreat (at the) beginning of the semester and got to hear her talk there. I’m really impressed with her as somebody who cares really deeply about students and faculty and staff and about excellence,” Craig said. “I think she’s going to do a fantastic job.”
Everbach said the people at Mayborn were “pretty disappointed” when it was announced Miller would leave the college but said they also understood Gaylord was a bigger school.
“There was more opportunity there for her. There was a lot of work she could do there,” Everbach said. “I think we all understood why she took the job, but I think a lot of people were very disappointed because they admired her, her leadership qualities and the things she had done to increase the visibility of the school.”
Miller said journalists are exposed to other careers such as public relations, which she said was a component when she did her research into crisis situations.
Miller said advertising is also an important side of journalism because it is a business that helps fund a news outlet's mission, whether in print or broadcast. She said everything that Gaylord students do is a form of storytelling, regardless of if they do it in writing or video.
“It’s just a different way to tell a story, same with advertising, same with (public relations). We’re all telling stories,” Miller said. “We’re all good writers. We’re all good storytellers. We just choose to do it in a different way and for different means.”
Miller said she has learned from her previous deanship how to provide a support system to faculty and staff. Miller started her position as Mayborn dean one semester before the COVID-19 pandemic closed universities nationally. Miller said she learned a lot about being a leader and a pillar of support for students from starting her position during such a time of confusion and change.
“When you see your faculty and your staff and your students going through what we all went through during that time period, you really realize that you need to be a leader that is supportive, is empathetic, who fights for you, stands for you, and really gives you opportunities to grow and succeed,” Miller said. “We have to build that trust because they have to trust that they’re going to come out of things on the other side and they’re still going to be supported.”
In April, OU Daily reported nearly half of Gaylord College’s female full-time faculty and staff signed a letter sent to college and university leadership detailing an alleged hostile work environment and culture of discrimination, nepotism, violation of policies and secrecy within the college. Gaylord College hired Moira Kelly of Kelly Consulting LLC, a consulting company, to conduct voluntary interviews with faculty and staff.
In the findings from interviews with 47 Gaylord faculty and staff members, a third of respondents thought most people treated each other well, another third thought their colleagues were treated poorly or unprofessionally.
When asked about how she would create a welcoming environment for women and minority groups in Gaylord College, Miller said she’s conducting one-on-one meetings and team activities among faculty and staff members to make them feel valued. She said the culture and the environment people work in is very important and said the college is “very diverse in terms of all the different disciplines and areas.”
Miller said she wants to help solve the issues in Gaylord College and to build trust and a sense of community.
“They call it the Gaylord family, so it’s important that everybody under the dome feels that they are heard as well,” Miller said.
In the interviews conducted by Kelly, nearly half of the respondents were also found to not know what the goals of the organization were or think the goals were made clear, and about half said their suggestions were ignored, disregarded or resisted.
Craig said he has talked to Miller about this issue, and she is making it a priority as she takes up the deanship.
“She’s listening to concerns and trying to help work with everybody to strengthen the culture and the environment (at Gaylord),” Craig said.
Gaylord College is operating under a strategic plan that is set to expire this year. Miller said the college will involve everyone in the process of creating a new strategic plan, so they understand its mission and values.
Miller said strategic planning is about constantly revisiting everyone’s shared and agreed upon goals and working on those goals together.
“Everybody has to be in the boat, but everybody then has to be rowing in the same direction,” Miller said. “I think that process will help clarify and solidify what our mission is.”
Craig said a big priority for him last year was to review all of the college’s policies and procedures and try to make those as strong as they can be to serve everyone at Gaylord College.
“Faculty and staff over recent years have talked about the Gaylord family. … I think there are a lot of great elements of it, but wanting to see it strengthened, … that’s certainly my hope. That’s something I’m really optimistic about,” Craig said.
When it comes to programs at Gaylord College, Miller said there’s potential in expanding different areas, but those plans will be laid out when the college comes out with its strategic plan.
To engage with students, Miller said she has visited foundational courses in the Gaylord curriculum, including introduction to media, media writing and capstone classes. She also plans to start a “Donuts with the Dean” event once a month to make herself accessible to students.
“It’s really just connecting, not only with student leadership but also with any student who wants to walk in the door and have donuts with me and have a conversation,” Miller said.
Miller said she’s working with Gaylord’s Director of Development Breann Hager-Miller to bring more donors to the college. She said there are people passionate about what Gaylord College does, and she would like to engage them and bring them as guest speakers.
“There are so many Gaylord graduates out serving our industries, and so engaging them and bringing them back … shows the students where they can go,” Miller said.
Everbach said Gaylord students, faculty and staff members are lucky to have Miller as the dean of the college.
“She has a lot of empathy. She is a good listener. She understands what people are going through, but she also can be firm and stick to policies and stick to the way that she thinks is a good way to get things done or the right thing to do,” Everbach said. “She has a lot of integrity so she’s not going to put up with people trying to cut corners or people not being truthful.”
Miller said, now that students are back from summer break, she can learn and observe more of Gaylord College’s operations. While she doesn’t have any changes for the fall semester, Miller said her biggest goal for the start of the year is to build a community.
“It’s going to take a while to kind of figure out where we want to go (and) what we want to do,” Miller said. “We’re a team, and we all do different things, and that’s OK. We all have different experiences, and that’s fantastic, but we are all here for the same mission, which is to train and educate our undergraduate and our graduate students.”
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Peggy Dodd and Ismael Lele. Ryan Little, Avery Avery, Grace Rhodes and Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
