Matthew (Matt) Miller is a Senior Lecturer on Education here at HGSE, as well as the faculty co-chair of both the Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology program and the HGSE Case Initiative. He was previously Senior Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching at HGSE while serving on the faculty as Senior Lecturer. Prior to joining the faculty in 2006, Professor Miller had previously earned a doctoral degree from HGSE.
What brought you to the field of education?
I always wanted to be a teacher. In college, I realized (as an English major) that the strongest motivation I had to read and analyze literary texts was so that I could potentially lead a discussion about it with future students. I also did the teacher preparation program at Yale as an undergraduate because I knew how important teaching was, and would be, to me.
What are some of the classes that you teach, and what is your favorite class to teach?
I currently teach and co-chair How People Learn, the required online Foundations course that all Ed.M. students take when they start their program. I also teach in Leading Change on campus, another Foundations course that uses the case method. Finally, I offer an elective course on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education for the residential degree programs. I love working with students in all of these classes, but I really had a blast this spring teaching my elective course with a group of students from across HGSE and other Harvard schools.
Is there any initiative you are currently working on that you’d like to share more about? How are HGSE students involved in these efforts?
My colleague Monica Higgins and I co-lead the HGSE Case Initiative. We are developing cases that are used in HGSE classrooms and beyond for the student of change leadership at all levels of education. We have opportunities for students with writing experience (even if not writing cases!) to be co-authors on some of our projects. We have a long tradition at HGSE of collaborating on curriculum with students.
What is your favorite thing about working at HGSE?
I love the community at HGSE because of its kindness. It is a special place where I have always felt an ethic of caring at the heart of our interactions and work together — across roles of faculty, students, and staff.
Who is an educator that inspires you?
There are so many! But my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Robison, is probably the teacher who had the most profound imprint on my notion of what a teacher could be. She treated each of us in her class as a special human being, and she created opportunities every day for joy, discovery, and human connection that set the stage for all of us to love school. I still remember vividly the day she comforted six-year-old me when I had been hurt, and I felt in that moment that it would all be okay.
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