Dear Members of the Brown Community,

I write to inform you that after more than a decade of service to Brown and 40 years of work in higher education, Dean of Admission James S. Miller has announced his plan to retire later this year.

A graduate of Brown’s Class of 1973, Jim has spent the last four decades working in financial aid and admissions, holding positions at Harvard, and Bowdoin College, before assuming leadership of Brown’s Office of College Admission in 2005.

Over the past decade, Jim has been instrumental in helping to shape Brown’s community, admitting more than 28,000 students. The applicant pool has doubled since Jim’s arrival, with a record 32,000 applications currently being considered for the Class of 2020. The student body is more diverse than ever. The number of matriculating students of color has increased by 40 percent during the last 10 years, with a significant increase in international and first-generation students as well.

Brown’s reputation for excellence hinges on the quality of our students, and many of the students Jim has admitted have been recognized beyond Brown through myriad prestigious fellowships and scholarships. In the last five years, Brown has had a record 10 Rhodes Scholars and more than 100 Fulbright, Marshall, and Truman scholars.

Jim led Brown’s adoption of the common application in 2007 and the University’s partnering this year with the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success to improve the college application process for all students. He modernized Brown’s application and evaluation process, bringing both online, and helped revitalize and reorganize the alumni interviewing program. In 2013, the Office of College Admission relocated to Providence’s Jewelry District, among the early Brown offices to support Brown’s long-term planning goal of strengthening its presence in that area of the city.

I am grateful to Jim for his dedicated and expert service to Brown and to the students and families who have been part of the Brown community these many years. We will form a search committee in the coming weeks to identify his successor.

Sincerely,

Richard M. Locke

Provost