About the Speaker

H. Richard (Rich) Milner, IV is the Betts Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. He earned a doctor of philosophy degree and master of arts degree in educational policy and leadership from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He also earned a master of arts degree in teaching and a bachelor of arts degree in English from South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Beginning in the spring of 2008, he became a faculty affiliate in the teacher education program at Nashville's Fisk University.  His research, teaching and policy interests are urban education, teacher education, African American literature, and race and equity in society and education. During his doctoral studies at Ohio State, he was an adjunct instructor at Columbus State Community College, where he taught Reading and Writing courses in the Department of Developmental Studies.

Dr. Milner has published more than 50 journal articles and book chapters, and he has published three books with a fourth in press. He serves or has served on the editorial boards for several professional journals. In addition, he has volunteered with the Nashville YWCA GED program, the YWCA NewStart program, the Hadley Park Tutorial program for students of Nashville's Pearl-Cohn High School, and the Room in the Inn Homeless Shelter in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He is also an adviser to the newly established Association of Black Graduate Students at Peabody.

Dr. Milner’s research and service have been recognized with the Scholars of Color in Education Early Career Award (2006) of the American Educational Research Association and a Vanderbilt University Affirmative Action and Diversity Initiative Certificate (2005). Earlier this year in January 2009, Professor Milner received the Distinguished Faculty Game Award at the Vanderbilt University basketball game in front of approximately 14,000 attendees.