People Bio
Nancy A. Miller, Ph.D.
CWHS Associate Director &
Adjunct Assistant Professor
E-mail: nmiller@umn.edu
Education
Ph.D., History of Art, University of Pennsylvania
M.Arch, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture,
University of Minnesota
B.A., College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota
Bio
Nancy A. Miller is Associate Director of the Center for World Heritage Studies and Coordinator of the M.S. in Architecture degree program in Heritage Conservation and Preservation. She is an historian of modern architecture, with interests in urban and suburban environments, mid-twentieth century architecture and modern building materials. Miller has researched, written and lectured on the architect Eero Saarinen’s corporate suburban architecture, including such buildings as the General Motors Technical Center, the Deere Administrative Headquarters and the IBM Manufacturing Facility in Rochester, Minnesota.
In 2007, with funding support from the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, AIA, Minneapolis and St. Paul chapters, as well as the College of Design, Miller produced a map of Minnesota Modernism, documenting buildings of the recent past, constructed between 1945 and 1970. She is in the process of expanding that research, working in concert with research assistants at the Center for World Heritage Studies to submit the data to Placeography.org —a media-wiki sponsored by the Minnesota Historical Society and designed to be built with contributions from the community. Developing research interests and other research under way include the history of chemical and material innovation in the 1930s, which shaped the materials and technology of post-WWII building; preservation of modern architecture and buildings of the recent past; and preservation as a sustainable practice. Miller is a regular contributor to Architecture Minnesota, including a semi-regular feature called Material Matters.
Courses Taught
Note: Nancy Miller is not teaching 2008-09, as she is serving as Director of Undergraduate Studies
Arch 3412: History of Architecture Since 1750
Arch 4701: Introduction to Urban Forms and Issues
Arch 5410: Topics in Architectural History
Materials of Modernism
Mid-century Design—Home and Office
The 1950s, Architecture and Design
American Architecture
Arch 5432: Modern Architecture, 1840–1940
Arch 5434: Issues in Postwar Architecture, 1945–Present
Arch 5711: Design Principles of the Urban Landscape