Bonnie Miller
Bonnie Miller, a UMass Boston faculty member since September 2006, grew up on Long Island and came from a long line of teachers. Before coming to UMass, Bonnie had been preparing to teach practically her whole life! Her mother taught elementary school and English as a second language in New York City. Her father taught middle school social studies. So, from an early age, she knew teaching was the path for her!
Bonnie attended the University of Delaware as a History major, already preparing to earn her PhD. She was also a devoted Spanish minor and decided to combine her interests for US and Spanish history, starting an independent research project her freshman year focusing on the Spanish-American War of 1898. Bonnie was particularly fascinated by the print culture of the war in both countries. She worked on the project for all four years of her undergrad career. It allowed her to graduate with her first academic publication already in hand, and she presented it at an academic conference. Bonnie states that this moment was a great experience, and it validated her career path.
Having been accepted to the Johns Hopkins History PhD program right after, Bonnie worked with Professor Ron Walters, becoming more interested in political cartoons and historical visual content. It led her to the research that eventually became her book, From Liberation to Conquest: The Visual and Popular Cultures of the Spanish-American War of 1898. After completing her dissertation, Bonnie was hired at UMass Boston as an assistant professor in American Studies. She taught in the department for 14 years before coming over to the History department!
Bonnie loves teaching and working with students more than anything, learning from their work and hearing their ideas. Students push her to think in new directions and make the process rewarding. Though, the commute leaves much to be desired! While stuck on 93 South, you can often find her listening to stand-up comedy to learn new techniques to use in class.
Bonnie’s areas of interest are reflected in the courses she teaches. Her love for US 19th and 20th century social and cultural history, along with visual culture, war, imperialism, and world’s fairs comes through in AMST/HIST 602L: Historical Sequence I, a historical survey that examines early American history topics using different types of sources like diaries, narratives, visuals, material culture, and novels.
Meanwhile, her love for food studies shines through in AMST/HIST 285L: Food in American Culture, her favorite to teach. It’s an examination of the history of food in the U.S. from the colonial era to now. Students learn about the fast food industry, its influence, global tastes, and business practices. It extends into modern topics like globalization, genetic engineering, food access and safety, climate change, and epidemics such as COVID-19 and obesity. This year, Bonnie was a guest editor for a special issue for the Food, Culture, & Society academic journal on the history of food at fairs and expositions. Bonnie wrote the introduction to the issue, “Special Issue Introduction: Historical and Cultural Perspectives of Food on the Fairgrounds” in addition to her own article, “Food on Display: Design Techniques of the Food Exhibits of the New York World’s Fair of 1939-40.”
Outside of academia, Bonnie has a busy life! She’s been married for almost 18 years and has two children, her son Alex (17) and her daughter Sarina (13). She also has a golden retriever named Orbit, born during the 2017 solar eclipse and a big goofy boy! He’s got lots of zoomies and loves to run in circles, making his name a perfect fit. Bonnie loves to take him to Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester so he can play in the water. She considers that her happy place. She and Alex take him on walks, and they went on lots of hiking adventures during the pandemic, something she’s very fond of. Bonnie’s been staying active and healthy during lockdown!
We always ask professors to give advice to grad students, and Bonnie’s got plenty! She recommends that you know your end goal so you can make decisions to work towards it. “The job market is tough,” she says, “so use your time efficiently while you are in the program to be building up your CV and getting valuable experiences. Explore internship possibilities or present at a conference. Look for opportunities to take a leadership position on campus, if you can. If you have a final project idea in mind, try to choose term paper topics in your classes along the way to help you explore aspects related to it. Graduate school has so many flexible options so that you can craft the program that best fits your long-term needs.” She also tells students to talk to faculty members, as they’re there to help guide you. She wants you to bother her! Don’t be afraid to seek out their advice.
In a chaotic, fast-moving world, Bonnie recommends you pace yourself and focus on the tasks you need to get done today or this week. Time management and self-care are your best friends. Use your breaks during the year to actually let yourself decompress and reset. Remember you can always talk to your faculty members when feeling overwhelmed.
Finally, we also ask professors to share their favorite historical fun fact. Bonnie’s is the story of Dr. Sidney Haas who, in the 1920s, believed he had found the cure for celiac disease based on a successful study he conducted with celiac patients. The answer was a banana diet! His findings were endorsed by medical authorities at the time, and he became a proponent of the “banana diet” as a popular treatment for the disease. We know now, of course, that gluten causes celiac disease, but since bananas have no gluten, Dr. Haas’s findings were unintentionally true! Bonnie loves that story in particular because “it shows how misleading research findings can be when you don’t consider other contextual factors.” It also aligns with Bonnie’s belief that nutritional factors are much more significant to many health problems we face than most give credit for.