John D. Millett

John D. Millett was the 16th president of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and first chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. During his career he served as the Senior Vice President of the Academy for Educational Development in Washington, DC. The assembly hall at Miami University is named in his honor.

John David Millett was born on March 14, 1912, in Indianapolis< Indiana. He was the first of two children, the only son, born to Grover Allan Millett (1884-1953), a businessman, and Helen (Welch) Millett (1885-1968). He attended Indianapolis public schools and was graduated from Shortridge High School in 1929. He entered DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, in 1929 and was graduated with highest honors in 1933. Widely recognized as a campus leader, he was editor of the school newspaper, Phi Beta Kappa, and president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta. After a year tour around the world, he entered Columbia University as a graduate student in 1934 in political science with a specialty in public administration. On September 2, 1934, he married Catherine Letsinger, whom he had dated at DePauw and who was earning her degree in the School of Jouralism at Columbia. He received his Ph.D in January 1938 at the age of 25 and spent one year as post-doctoral student at the London School of Economics.

He returned to teaching at Columbia Unversity in 1939. At the beginning of World War II, he joined the personal staff of Gen. Brehon Somerville in the Petagon. He rose from the rank of Major to full Colonel.

After World War II, he returned to the graduate faculty of Columbia University, rising to the rank of tenured full professor. He returned to active duty in 1947 to study logistical management of the German Army during the war. He also served on the staff of the second Hoover Commission and various prestigeous committees.

John Millett served as the 16th president of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, from 1953 to 1964. He managed a vast expansion of the physical campus and a doubling of student enrollment. He also oversaw significant progress in the academic quality and national reputation of the university. He became the first chanchellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, 1964-1972. His specialties included the financial management of higher education, long-term strategic planning, and best practices of public administration as applied to higher education.

John and Catherine Millett parented three sons: Allan R. Millett, Ph.D.(military historian, university professor, and full Colonel, USMC); David P. Millett, M.D. (flight physician and FAA regional medical manager); and Stephen M. Millett, Ph.D. (historian, futurist, management consultant, and member of the State Board of Education in Ohio).

Millett auhored or co-authored nearly two dozen books and numerous professional journal articles in educational policy and public administration.

After serving as a senior manager and educational consultant with the Academy for Educational Development in Washington, D.C., he returned to live in Oxford, Ohio, in 1980. He entered private practice as a consultant to institutions of higher education. He suffered a severe heart attack in Oxford in 1988 and subsequently died at a retirment center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 17, 1993.