\"Miami University\" John D. Millett Hand Signed 5.75X3.5 Card For Sale

Up for sale a RARE! "Miami University" John D. Millett Hand Signed 5.75X3.5 Card. 

ES-8036E

 John David Millett (March 14, 1912 – November 14,

1993) 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, D.C. Millett Hall at Miami University and an academic building at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, are named in his honor. John David Millett was

born in Indianapolis, Indiana, of

parents who had come from small towns in southwestern Indiana. He was the first

of two children, the only son, born to Grover Allan Millett (1884–1953)and

Helen Elizabeth (Welch) Millett (1886–1968). His father had been a successful

businessman in the 1920s, but went bust in the Great Depression. Millett attended Indianapolis public schools

and was graduated from Shortridge High School in

1929. He received a Rector Scholarship and entered DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, 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 traveling 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 of Bloomfield, Indiana, whom

he had dated at DePauw and who was earning her degree in the School of

Journalism at Columbia. He received his PhD in January 1938 at the age of 25

and spent one year as postdoctoral student at the London School of Economics.

He returned to teaching at Columbia University in 1939. At the beginning

of World War II, he

joined the personal staff of Gen. Brehon B. Somervell,

commander of the Army Service Forces, in the Pentagon (which Somervell had designed

and built as the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers). He rose from the rank of major to full colonel and

received the Legion of Merit for

his military service.[ 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 the Army in 1947 to study

logistical management of the German Army during the war. He also served on the

staff of the first Hoover Commission and various prestigious committees.

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 was a champion of

the liberal arts education

and instituted the Common Curriculum at Miami. He became the first chancellor

of the Ohio Board of Regents, 1964–1972, enjoying a close working relationship

with Governor James A. Rhodes. He delivered

the presidential nomination address for Rhodes at the 1968

Republican National Convention. As chancellor he promoted the

state's expanding network of technical and community colleges in addition to

coordinating the state's expanding system of public universities. He was widely

respected for his expertise in 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, PhD (military historian,

university professor, and colonel, USMC); David P. Millett, M.D., (flight director); and Stephen M. Millett, PhD (historian, futurist, consultant, and member of the Ohio State Board of

Education). Millett authored or coauthored nearly two dozen books

and numerous professional journal articles in educational policy and public

administration. His most acclaimed works included Financing Higher

Education in the United States (1952), The

Organization and Role of the Army Service Forces (1954), Management

in the Public Service (1954), The Liberating Arts (1957), The

Academic Community (1962), and Politics and Higher Education (1974).

He was also particularly proud of his numerous honorary degrees from

universities across the country.[ Millett was a longtime

affiliate of political science honors society Pi Sigma Alpha. He served as president, vice president, and

executive council member of the society, and was also inducted into it as a

college student at DePauw University.[ Millett retired from public

service in Ohio in 1972 and joined the executive leadership team at the Academy

for Educational Development in Washington, D.C. He consulted with universities

and educational institutions around the world. Also in 1972 he was elected

President of the General Council of the Phi Delta Theta national organization.

Millett was a trustee of the Educational Testing Service and the Institute for

American Universities (Aix-en-Provence, France).

He was active in the Cosmos Club, Rotary, and the United Methodist Church.

He was elected the first chairman of the National Academy of Public Administration. He returned to live

in Oxford, Ohio, in 1980. He suffered a severe heart attack in 1988 and subsequently died after a long

illness at a retirement center in Cincinnati, Ohio.[