Charles “Dusty” Miller, the director of the EMU, is retiring at the end of spring term after 18 years of working at the University. The Emerald sat down with him to talk about his time here and what’s next for him and the EMU.
ODE: How long have you been director of the EMU?
Dusty Miller: Since 1992.
ODE: Did you do anything at the University before that?
DM: No, I came here from New Orleans.
ODE: Where did you grow up?
DM: I was born outside of Albany, N.Y., and grew up in rural New York … Went to school at SUNY Buffalo, in the SUNY system in Buffalo, New York, and worked there and then moved to Pennsylvania and worked at East Stroudsburg University, and from there went to Loyola University in New Orleans and came here with my family in 1992.
ODE: What did you study?
DM: My undergraduate degree was in history, and my graduate degree was in student personnel administration with a concentration in finance and a secondary concentration in counseling.
ODE: What inspired you to take that route from history to student services?
DM: I am one of, I believe, a dying breed. I went away to college and got a part-time job in the student union. I never left. While I was an undergraduate, I became a student employee and then a full-time employee and continued on with my graduate degree. I found that I absolutely enjoyed working with student divisions and unions … I’ve been lucky to find something very early that I enjoy, that challenged me and was fun to do.
ODE: So what do you feel was a great achievement here in your career at the University?
DM: Well, I think others would probably have better knowledge of that. The thing that I’m probably the most proud of is working with a tremendous number and diversity of students over the years and working with just an incredible staff at the University and particularly within the EMU. I consider myself incredibly fortunate here.
ODE: Why are you retiring?
DM: I think that (there is) a certain point in time in your career (and at) a certain point in your life when you look at the future, you look at your energy level and you look at what the future is. And sometimes, as it was in my case, it came together that it is an appropriate time for the EMU, it is an appropriate time for me professionally, and it is an appropriate time for me personally. It meshed.
ODE: What do you want to do during retirement?
DM: Ah, well, a whole bunch of things. Everything from the very traditional, like spending more time with family, to some traveling, do some home improvement, and do something just for the heck of it just because you can. And there is a good part of me that wants to come back and watch how the campus changes, especially how the Erb Memorial Union and Student Recreation Center renovate. It will be fun to be the observer in that process. The renovation, in my opinion, needs to happen.
ODE: Why does it need to happen?
DM: The renovation will not be a one-year process. It’s going to be three or four years, I think, from the planning of it to actually constructing a project of this scope. I’m not going to be here that long, so it is very important to me that the campus has the time to make the decision of what the future will be, and then go out and hire its next director to match what the new facility and program will need.
Now let me go back and answer your question, “Why does it need to happen?” The area that you are sitting in (the mezzanine) is 60 years old. A significant amount of (the EMU’s) infrastructure is 60 years old. This part of the building, when it was built, was for a campus population of about 6,000. Where the Fir Room is, where the ticket office is, where the ASUO is. That was added in 1974, meaning that it’s almost 40 years old. And frankly, the systems that were built were designed for a shelf life of maybe 30 to 40 years. Your building is too small (because) there are 22,000 students on campus. I believe the campus is going to go to 24,000 … within the next several years … Many student organizations are in spaces because space became available, not because space was designed to meet their purpose.
So I would say that your building is too small. I would say that the life cycle of the building has well exceeded normal expectations; it is not universally accessible. Your building is very difficult to get around, and your building is expensive to operate. So I believe that if, in the future, the direction that the University wants to go is to create a student experience that is preeminent, this facility will have to expand.
ODE: So, back to your retirement. Where do you want to travel?
DM: We’re Oregon-based now, but we’re the only members of our family west of the Mississippi, so we have family to go visit. We have grandchildren. Grandchildren are fun to spoil. And then my wife and I would like to just go there and sit and say, “It’s time to go someplace where the sun shines.” Just because you can. You know, and whimsical stuff, too, (because before it was) “How about a picnic on the coast? Well, no, it’s Tuesday, you’re supposed to go to work.” (Laughs)
ODE: Because you’ve been here since 1992, you’ve probably seen some interesting things happen here at the EMU. What are some stories that you have?
DM: You know the stories that I would tell you have been through my head so many times that they’re embellished. You might be better off asking others to tell you stories. Some significant events that have occurred here since I’ve been here … Certainly the addition of the Moss Street Children’s Center. It’s a state-of-the-art facility and 80 percent of its spots are for children of University students, so that is unique. Not too many college campuses have those kinds of facilities and certainly don’t have those kinds of facilities with the amount of involvement of students.
The renovation in 1996-98 was significant to the building because it helped us change the financial productivity of the building. It’s the food service area, and that, I would say, needs to be renovated again to maintain interest among students … The involvement of students at this university and at the EMU I believe is quite unique in American higher education.
ODE: How so?
DM: The level of involvement that students have, the amount of authority that they have, the amount of responsibility that they have and the amount of input they have into decisions that have impact on this facility and the programs (is unique), like the ASUO making recommendations about $12 million from incidental fees, to students in club sports determining whether they’re going to be competing on a national level or not, to students involved in graphics in the (EMU) Marketing department being given creative license to do things.
At other schools, it’s much more prescriptive, where you’re told if you’re going to be on the “XYZ” club, and this is what you do. This is not how it works here. How it works here is if you were going to be in Club Sports and you’re going to be on the bowling team, you decide as students how competitive you’re going to be. Is it going to be skill-building and social, or are you going to try to compete on a national level? You, the students, make that decision. Staff supports you in that decision, whatever that decision is … Rather than us telling you what to do, you tell the “what” and we try to fill in the “how.”
ODE: What will you miss about t
he University and about the EMU?
DM: I have an idea. One of the neatest things about my job in my position is that you come to work in the EMU, and it is probably the busiest building on campus during Monday through Thursday during the academic year. We’ve counted door openings, and there is over 15,000 door openings a day. So, we’re busy.
It’s also neat in your job when you have an incredibly dedicated staff that has been here a long time, who are incredibly good at what they do, and who involve students in a manner where it is you students who help create direction and (we) just facilitate.
The other thing that is really neat about my job is that I can come to work and today have worked with Marketing, the Business Office, the Director of Student Activities, the Outdoor Program, the EMU Board of Directors and the Scheduling Office … There is such a breadth of things to do here. And the way I look at it is, “Wow, look at all the areas where I get to make mistakes.” (Laughs)
It doesn’t get boring … It’s ideal for me because if I had to do the exact same thing every day, I wouldn’t be as capable of bringing energy. So I’ll miss the mystery of what’s next. I’ll miss working with students. I can’t keep up with them as well anymore, but I’ll miss them and some staff in this building that are incredible.
ODE: Any last words for the students?
DM: Don’t sell yourself short. Think globally (and) to the future. Take calculated risks. Don’t lose your idealism. Have fun.
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The end of an EMU era
Daily Emerald
April 27, 2010
Nick Cote
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