Pam Miller | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Lexington | |
| In office January 3, 1993 –January 6, 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Scotty Baesler |
| Succeeded by | Teresa Isaac |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Ralph Miller |
| Alma mater | Smith College |
Pam Miller served as the mayor of Lexington,Kentucky from 1993 to 2003. On January 3,1993,she became Lexington's first woman mayor. [1] She was first elected to the Urban County Council in 1973 and was the first woman elected to public office in the city. [2] She served from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1993. She served as vice-mayor before becoming mayor after the resignation of Scotty Baesler,who was elected to the United States Congress in 1992. She was elected to a full term as mayor in 1993 and again in 1998,though she chose not to run for a third term in 2002.
Under her leadership,Lexington developed an Urban Area Greenspace Plan in 1994. [3] In 1995,she founded Partners for Youth,a non-profit organization that serves as a clearinghouse for funding programs for youth in Lexington. [4] This development occurred after the shooting and killing of Antonio Orlando Sullivan,an eighteen-year-old African American male,by a white police officer in October 1994 which had caused a public outcry. [5]
Upon her retirement as mayor,Pam Miller remained active in civic affairs. She became a member and then chair of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence (serving as chair from 2006 to 2010),and the Lexington Opera Society (chair,2007–2009). [6] Governor Steve Beshear appointed her to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education in 2008, [7] and served as the Council's vice chair from February 2010 to December 2011. She was elected as the Council's chair in 2012 [8] and has been reappointed in that leadership role each year since. Her current term on the Council ended on December 31,2018. [9]
Miller earned her bachelor's degree in European history,magna cum laude,from Smith College in 1960. [6] She taught history and French in Connecticut. She married physician and former Olympic alpine skier Dr. Ralph E. Miller Jr. in 1962. They had three children:two boys and one girl. She worked for the Congressional Quarterly in Washington D.C. from 1962 to 1965 as a reporter and editor. From 1966 to 1969 she a grant writer at Boston ABCD (Action for Boston Community Development),an anti-poverty and community development organization. [6] She also worked for The Boston Globe.
The Millers left Boston in 1969 when Dr. Miller got a Research Fellowship in Neuroendocrinology at Stanford University in California. They came to Lexington in 1970 from California when Dr. Miller was hired at the University of Kentucky to be a professor of pharmacology. [10] Soon after that,Pam Miller started in 1972 what is now the Lexington Farmers Market. [11]
On September 12,2002,Mayor Miller was presented by the University of Kentucky with a rose created to honor her and her service to the city of Lexington. [12]