Contact Information

Biography

Sarah Alison Miller joined the Classics department at Duquesne University in 2008. Professor Miller received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2008).  Her book, "Medieval Monstrosity and the Female Body" (Routledge 2010), argues that the female anatomy and its physiological processes were marked as "monstrous" in medieval medical, erotic, and religious literature. She is currently working on her second book, "The History and Culture of Breast Milk: From Greco-Roman Myth to Medieval Mysticism", to be published by Routledge in 2015.  Dr.Miller has taught courses in Latin, Greco-Roman literature, Early-Christian and Medieval literature, Classical archaeology, Classical history, and Gender Studies. She is particularly interested in the history of the body, ancient gynecology, and monsters. At Duquesne, she teaches courses in the Service Learning program and oversees the Classical Society. In her spare time, she likes to cook with her son, read to her toddler, and collect skulls.

Education

Ph.D., Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008
Associate, Didactic Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalytic Institute of the Carolinas, 2006
M.A., Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003
B.A., Latin and Classical Civilizations, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000

School

Latin
Basic Latin I 
Basic Latin II 
Latin for Reading I 
Latin for Reading II
Difficult Topics in the Latin Classroom 
Intermediate Latin , Caesar and Cicero 
Intermediate Latin, Sallust 
Medieval Latin

Classical, Medieval, and World Literature
The Ancient Novel 
Ancient Theater 
Greek, Roman and Medieval Mothers
Love and Violence in Roman Poetry
Women, Sickness and Sanctity in the Middle Ages 
Demons, Angels, Sinners, Saints
Classical Mythology in Art and Film
Classical Mythology
Independent Study, Topics in Classical Mythology
Independent Study, Mothers and Milk
Comparative Literature, Great Books

Archeology and History
Roman Domestic Spaces
History of the Late Roman Empire
Archeological History of the Ancient Greek World
Archeological History of the Ancient Roman World
Independent Study, Topics in Roman ArcheologyResearch and Teaching Interests

Research and Teaching Interests 
Medieval
 Hagiography and mysticism
 Gynecology
 Ovid in the Middle Ages

Classical
 Latin poetry of the Augustan age and late empire
 Classical Mythology

General
 Gender and the body
 Psychoanalysis
 Languages Latin, Ancient Greek, French, Middle English

Duquesne Presidential Scholarship Award, Spring 2010

NEH Endowment Grant, Spring 2010

Wimmer Grant for the development of service learning projects, Fall 2008, 2009, 2010

NEH Endowment Grant, Fall 2008

Dissertation Prize in Comparative Literature (UNC), 2008

Dissertation Completion Fellowship (UNC), 2007-2008

Frankel Dissertation Fellowship (UNC), Spring 2007

Jacob K. Javits Fellowship (United States Congress), 2001 to 2005

Albert Suskin Prize for sight translation of Latin (UNC Classics), Spring 2000

Herrington Prize for performance of Latin poetry (UNC Classics), 2000

Phi Beta Kappa (UNC), 2000

Herrington Award for excellence in Greek and Latin (UNC Classics), 1999

Trentini Scholarship (Wake Forest-Rolesville High, NC), 1996-2000

Publications: Books
The History and Culture of Breast Milk: From Greco-Roman Myth to Medieval Mysticism. London: Routledge. Forthcoming, estimated date of publication: Fall 2019.

Medieval Monstrosity and the Female Body. London: Routledge, 2010.

Publications: Chapters, Articles
"Sanctity and the Breast in Late-Medieval Europe" in History of the Breast, a special edition of Medicina nei Secoli, ed. Valentina Gazzaniga. Forthcoming, estimated date of publication: Spring 2017.

"Monstrous Sexuality: Variations on the vagina dentata" in Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous. Ed. Asa Simon Mittman with Peter J. Dendle. London: Ashgate Press, 2012: 311-28.

Review of Hatred and Forgiveness by Julia Kristeva. Symplokē: a journal for the intermingling of literary, cultural and theoretical scholarship. Vol. 19, Nos. 1-2 (2012).

"It All Started with Plato: Reintegrating Psychoanalysis and the Humanities," with Patrick Lee Miller, in The American Psychoanalyst, v.38, n.2, Spring/Summer 2004.

Presentations
"Porosity and the Medieval Maternal Breast." Creature (Dis)comforts: On Human Thresholds from Classical Myth to Modern Day. University of California Los Angeles (June 3, 2017).

"Body Fluids." Women's Institute Inauguration, Chatham University (November 7, 2015).

"Teaching Ancient Misogyny." Access: Redefining Disability and Mobility Studies. The English Graduate Organization at Duquesne University (March 21, 2015).

"Blood, Milk, and Tears: Holy Bodies in the Middle Ages." Women's and Gender Studies Lecture Series. Duquesne University, Pittsburgh (January 23, 2015).

"Exploring our Field(s)": A Faculty Roundtable on Graduate Student Issues. Pittsburgh Consortium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (November 17, 2012).

"Twins and Hermaphrodites in Albertus and Pseudo-Albertus." International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI (May 10, 2012).

"The Miraculous Breasts of Christina the Astonishing." University of Pittsburgh Medieval Latin Reading Group, the Program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and the Humanities Center. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (February 17, 2012).

"Real women, Real issues." Faculty panel. Duquesne University, Pittsburgh (February 6, 2012).

"Negotiating misogyny in medieval literature." Women's and Gender Studies Faculty Panel. Duquesne University, Pittsburgh (February 9, 2011).

"Teratology and gynecology: menstrual fluid and monsters in Pseudo Albertus Magnus' De secretis mulierum." International Medieval Congress, Leeds, England (July 15, 2009).

"Bodies in the Pseudo-Ovidian De Vetula." American Philological Association (APA) annual meeting, Boston (January 2005).

"Bodies and Spirits in Vergil's Underworld." Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS), Spring meeting, Lexington, KY (April 2003).

"Reading Clarissa's Metamorphosis: Another Daphne." Southern Comparative Literature Association (SCLA) annual meeting, Chapel Hill, NC (September 2001).

"Metamorphosis in Milton's Comus." Association of Graduate English Studies, Chapel Hill, NC (March 2001).

Service
Department:
Chair of the Department of Classics, Duquesne University (Fall 2014-present).
Director of Hiring Committee, Duquesne Classics (2014-2015).
Member of Hiring Committee, Duquesne Classics (2010-2011).
Advisor for the Classical Society of Duquesne University (2009-present).
Advisor for Classical Honor Society, Eta Sigma Phi (2010, 2014).

University:
Co-director of Medieval and Renaissance Studies (MARS) (Fall 2016-present).
McAnulty College Council (2014-present).
McAnulty College Core Curriculum Revision Committee (Spring 2016-present).
Learning Community Review Committee (Fall 2015).
Duquesne University Faculty Senate (2014-present).
Women's and Gender Studies Mentoring Group (2014-2016).
McAnulty College Retention Committee (2014-2016).
Women's and Gender Studies Steering Committee (2010-present).
World Literature and Culture Steering Committee (2010-present).
Women and Politics Committee for Women's and Gender Studies (2011-2012).
Assistant Director of Women's and Gender Studies Program (2011-2012).
Learning Communities Faculty Advisory Committee (2009-2010).

Community Engagement:
Amor Learning Community, Director (Fall 2015-Spring 2016).

Community Project: Interdisciplinary panel: "Rape Matters: Sexual Assault and Universities" (Duquesne University), October 22, 2015

Amor Learning Community, Co-creator and Co-Director (Fall 2014-Spring 2015).Community Partnership with: Center for Victims (Pittsburgh, PA)

Narratio Learning Community, Director (Fall 2013-Spring 2014).Community Partnership with: Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (GPLC)

Litterae Learning Community (Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012).Community Partnerships with: New Bethel Church (Lawrenceville), Door of Hope Church (Lawrenceville), Hill House (Hill District),Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (GPLC)

 

Other Professional Activities
Translate English mottos into Latin for Jostens Ring Company and school crests for West Point, Air Force Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy on behalf of Mike Sungaard (2014-present).

Transcribed and translated Latin commentary in Canterbury Tales manuscript, for Prof. Meredith Clermont-Ferrand of Eastern Connecticut State University (2006).

Translated selections from Guillaume Budé's De Asse et Partibus for Prof. John Headley of UNC-CH (2005).

Translated for publication Jean-Christophe Bardout's "Une réception sans adhesion: Malebranche devant la morale cartésienne," appearing as "A Reception without Attachment: Malebranche confronting Cartesian Morality," in Receptions of Descartes: Cartesianism and Anti-Cartesianism in Early Modern Europe, ed. T. M. Schmaltz, Routledge Studies in Seventeenth Century Philosophy, London: Routledge, 2005 (With Patrick Lee Miller).

Private Tutor in Latin and French (2002-2004).

Latin Immersion Program with Reginald Foster. Rome, Italy (Summer 2002).