Amata Miller, IHM,
PhD '54
 Amata
MillerA passionate belief that economics should be used as
a tool for social justice, equity and fairness underscores
Sister Amata Miller’s teaching and her professional choices
over the course of the five decades of her career. To that
end, she has worn many hats at Marygrove College, within the
IHM order, in the world of economists, academics and in the
agencies advocating for social and economic justice.
Sister Amata says that helping the people she has taught in
classes and workshops over the years become agents of social
justice has been a lifelong quest. Michigan Supreme Court Justice
Maura Corrigan, Class of 1969, said in her nomination letter,
“Sister Amata had the most profound influence on me of any
teacher in my life. She opened worlds of knowledge to us and
offered a firm commitment to scholarship and rationality in
this often chaotic world.” Another former student, Carol Litka,
’72, who is now a financial advisor with a major brokerage
firm, recalls, “Sister Amata inspired me and gave me the confidence
for the later choices I made.”
In 1976, Sister Amata left the classroom to become the Financial
Vice President of the IHM congregation, an elected post she
held for 12 years. During this time, she continued her teaching
through lectures and workshops on economic justice and financial
matters to many religious congregations and national groups.
As a Marygrove Trustee, she served on the Finance Committee
helping to guide the College through a difficult financial
period. Expressing the IHM social justice commitment through
socially responsible investing, she was active in filing shareholder
resolutions and at shareholder meetings of Detroit Edison out
of concern for safety at the Monroe Fermi II nuclear reactor
site. Continuing the congregation’s efforts to provide for
members’ retirement needs, she fostered fund-raising and congregational
saving for the future. She also assisted other religious congregations
with these efforts and worked for the upgrading of compensation
of women religious in Michigan.
Moving to the national scene, Sister Amata became Education
Coordinator and economic analyst for NETWORK: A National Catholic
Social Justice Lobby in Washington, D.C., serving from 1988
to 1994. She continues to serve as an adjunct staff member.
Returning to Michigan, this time as Chief Financial Officer
of Marygrove College, Sister Amata established, reaffirmed
and enforced policies regarding payment of tuition, distribution
of student financial aid, allocation of the college budget
and investment of the endowment. She collaborated with administrators,
staff and faculty from various departments, was fair in the
application of policies and never too busy to meet with students
or others.
Sister Amata has also served as a Professor of Economics at
St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Currently, she is
a Professor of Economics and Director of the Myser Initiative
in Catholic Identity at the College of St. Catherine in St.
Paul, Minnesota. She teaches “Economics of Social Issues” and
works to infuse among faculty and staff a deepened respect
for and appreciation of the Catholic identity of the College.She
also teaches the two Economics courses in Marygrove’s Master’s
of Social Justice Program.
For the past 25 years, Sister Amata has written and lectured
extensively on economic justice issues, Catholic social teaching
and socially responsible investing through-out the United States
and abroad. In her statements, she has not shied away from
topics such as the economics of the war in Iraq.
She has served on the boards of Shorebank Corporation in Chicago,
Catholic Health Initiatives in Denver, Catholic Health Audit
in St. Louis, and the Minnesota Center for Health Care Ethics
in Minneapolis. She is currently Board Chair of Global Health
Initiatives in Denver and is a Trustee of St. Edward’s University
in Austin and of the SSIHM Charitable Trust in Monroe.
Sister Amata earned a Doctorate in Economics from the University
of California at Berkeley where she won a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship
and a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. She earned a
Master’s in Economics at St. Louis University.
A classical music lover, Sister Amata listens to music on
the radio and finds “…my spirit calmed by its cadences.” She
does crossword puzzles for fun and enjoys visiting with her
two sisters and friends.
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