Miller Plans Active Retirement

End of an Era for Wisconsin Sea Grant Advisory Services

After 17 years directing UW Sea Grant’s Advisory Services, Al Miller will retire on July 6. A retirement reception will be held in July.

Miller came to UW Sea Grant after serving 8 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 12 years as the program manager for the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program.

"Al brought terrific energy and ambition to Sea Grant’s outreach efforts," said UW Sea Grant Director Anders Andren.  "He tackled major challenges head-on, and he really made a difference. As a result of his efforts, the UW Sea Grant Advisory Services program is held in high regard locally, regionally, and nationally."

Miller says he is particularly proud of the initiative Advisory Services took in preparing for the invasion of zebra mussels into Lake Michigan. In late 1989, when Miller and Robert Ragotzkie (then UW Sea Grant director) learned that the water utility and power plant in Monroe, Mich., nearly shut down when their water intakes clogged with billions of zebra mussels, they joined with Clifford Kraft (then Sea Grant’s water quality specialist) and James Lubner (marine education specialist) to prevent similar disasters in Wisconsin. First they alerted officials in water and power supply companies.

"We knew there would be a lot of [misinformation] floating around, and we wanted to provide people with accurate information," Miller said. 

Next, Miller, Kraft, and Stephen Wittman, assistant director for Communications, developed the Zebra Mussel Update, a quarterly newsletter published from 1990-1997 with an estimated readership of 100,000. Miller and others also began monitoring 12 Wisconsin harbors for zebra mussels and trained officials in Wisconsin water and power supply companies to do so as well.   

"I think by the time zebra mussels got here, people were prepared. They knew about the potential problems, and they knew about control mechanisms.  We did a good job with that," Miller said.

Miller is also proud of the Friend of Science Education Award that Sea Grant received from the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers in 1999, in part for workshops and education projects conducted by Advisory Services, including Operation Pathfinder and Global Environmental Change Education. "There are an awful lot of organizations working in science education. Winning this award was a real feather in our cap," Miller said.  (The award also cited the Madison JASON Project, directed by Mary Lou Reeb.)

When asked what he will miss most about Sea Grant, Miller mentions first the eight Advisory Services specialists. "They are really top-notch people," Miller said.  "They are highly accomplished and are known regionally and nationally in their fields. Working with them has been very rewarding," he said.

Miller has ambitious plans for his newly acquired "leisure" time.  He’ll continue teaching a graduate seminar at UW-Madison on global water supplies, and he will develop an on-line series of workshops for educators called "What’s Great about the Great Lakes?"  He plans to work with the Advisory Services specialists to develop online courses in their areas. He will also remain active in science education. "I have a passion to introduce GIS [geographic information services] into school systems," he said. 

For a "really fun project," Miller is leading the Oregon Rotary Club in developing a nature conservancy in the Village of Oregon. "This will be a gift to the people of Oregon—a natural space right in the center of their town.  I think people in 20 years will really be glad they had the foresight to set this aside."

Despite these ambitious plans, Miller expects to find time for more golfing and fishing. "I can say I’m really looking forward to doing a lot of fly fishing for muskie," Miller said, "but I can’t tell you where."

- John Karl

Last updated 14 June 2001 by Karl
All contents copyright 2000 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/news/LDstories/2001/MillerRetires.html