April 13, 2007--The following memorial tribute to Mary Ann Miller was presented by Pam Butler, associate professor of nursing, at the General Faculty meeting on April 9, 2007:

Mary Ann Miller, professor emeritus of nursing, RN, Ph.D., passed away March 31, 2007. She was a nursing faculty member at the University of Delaware from 1977-2002.

Dr. Miller was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pa., and began her nursing education there, receiving a bachelor's degree in nursing from Carlow College, where she was asked to be a nursing instructor. She soon moved across the state to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania; there, she received a master's degree in maternal/child nursing and taught undergraduate maternity nursing for many years. While at Penn, she was the recipient of the coveted Lindback Award for Teaching.

In 1977, she moved to the University of Delaware and began a teaching career that spanned 24 years. She taught primarily graduate courses--her specialty was the nursing of women and newborns--and it is sometimes said that every maternal/child specialist nurse in Delaware had Mary Ann Miller as a teacher. During this time, Dr. Miller received her doctorate from Temple University in health education.

Dr. Miller was the author of textbooks and many articles published in professional nursing journals, and she was often an invited speaker at professional programs. She was a member of numerous professional nursing associations and held regional and national offices in the Association for Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and Nurses' Association of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (NAACOG). She served the University of Delaware in the Faculty Senate, on the Committee on Undergraduate Records and Certification, and on numerous college and department committees. She was the acting chairperson of nursing in 2001-2002.

Dr. Miller will be remembered as a teacher committed to excellence, and as a mentor committed to students. She was straight-forward, ethical, accountable, reliable, realistic and, while she could always see all sides of an issue, knew what was the “right” thing to do. We who knew and loved her will remember her enthusiasms--for teaching, for students, for cruises, for shopping, for St. John Fisher Church and their Capital Campaign, for Avon hand cream, for e-mail remembrances, for friendships.

She will be missed.

Mary Ann Miller, 65, professor emeritus of nursing at the University of Delaware, a resident of the Boothwyn section of Upper Chichester, Pa., passed away on March 31, 2007, at Lankenau Hospital, Lower Merion, Pa. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Dr. Miller was a former resident of Mt. Airy, Pa., and had lived in Boothwyn, Pa., for more than 30 years.

She received her bachelor's degree in nursing from Carlow College in Pittsburgh, her master's degree in maternal/child nursing and nursing education from the University of Pennsylvania, and her doctorate in health education from Temple University.

A University of Delaware faculty member since 1977, Dr. Miller taught primarily at the graduate level in such specialty courses as "Nursing of Women and Newborns" and in core courses. Her research interests were in the areas of health behaviors and spiritual well-being.

She also was the author of many textbooks and articles published in professional nursing journals, and she was a role model and mentor at for many nursing graduates. She also was a speaker at many professional programs.

Dr. Miller was a member of various professional nursing associations, the American Association for University Professors, American Nurses Association, Delaware Nursing Association, National League for Nursing, Organization for Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal, Nurses (AWHONN), and NAACOG (Nurses' Association of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists).

A member of St. John Fisher Catholic Church for more than 20 years, she worked as a full-time volunteer for the past four years, chaired the Capital Campaign and also was a sacristan, eucharistic minister and lector.

Dr. Miller is survived by cousins, friends and members or St. John Fisher Church, Boothwyn, Pa. She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Elizabeth Deem Miller.

A memorial mass was held Monday, April 9, at St. John Fisher Catholic Church in Boothwyn, Pa., with interment at in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Pittsburgh on Saturday, April 28.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to St. John Fisher Church Capital Fund, 4225 Chichester Ave., Boothwyn PA 19061.