Ve’Amber Miller-Dye ’15: Sharing public history

Ve’Amber Miller-Dye ’15 landed on the Hilltop by what she calls the magic of Google.

From her home in the south Chicago suburb of Matteson, a computer search for out-of-state archaeology programs led her directly to Cornell. The block plan would be a bonus, she thought.

Eight years after graduating, Miller-Dye has a master’s degree in public history, six years of experience as a ranger at national parks, and a job at a major research university.

In February she moved from Chicago to Baltimore to work at Johns Hopkins University as the digital content and outreach coordinator for Hopkins Retrospective. That project is reexamining Hopkins’ history and illuminating past inequities.

“I thought it was really powerful that Hopkins was willing to talk about their history, and I wanted to get involved with that,” she says, “Living in northern Midwest states, I didn’t notice how baked in the history of slavery can be to an institution. The legacy of it is still very much part of who we are as a nation.” 

Her career path included an internship at the Office of the State Archaeologist, summer research in Mexico, and Roman Archaeology in Italy. Equally important, she says, were the close friends and mentors she remains in contact with. 

“By sophomore year I had my friends and clubs, and I had a home-away-from-home,” she says. “It was really important for me to have a network of people who had my back and understood the experience I was going through.” 

Her core student organizations were Sister 4 Sister, the dance team PINQ, and SLAB (Student Literary Advisory Board), for which she was a founding member.

After graduating with majors in archaeology and English-creative writing, Miller-Dye completed a dig in Japan and held a one-year internship as a conservation associate at Weir Farm in Wilton, Connecticut, a national park site. Then she returned to Chicago where she helped establish the Pullman National Historical Park. As a ranger at a new site, she gained a wide range of experience.

Remember how the block plan was a bonus when she chose Cornell? She says it prepared her well for grad school at Loyola University Chicago while working full time at Pullman.

“That fast pace of the block plan prepared me for getting my master’s degree in public history. My cohort was just like, ‘Whoa, what do you mean we have to read a book in a week?’”

Last year she knew she was ready for a new adventure. 

“Having those six years as a park ranger has really shaped my life, and from that I moved on to a career that is taking me to the next step in my life and my biggest challenge—moving to a totally new city, and this one isn’t for a finite time like four years of college.” 

She’s far from home but not alone. She has her husband and childhood best friend, Owen Miller-Dye, and a sister and family living nearby. She also stays in contact with Cornell mentors and peers and is part of a group chat with 10 Cornell friends who are planning their next mini-reunion—at a national park.