Hello
I’m Steven Miller, a historian and a PhD student in Human Centered Design at DePaul University. Prior to DePaul, I completed my undergraduate education and my first year of graduate school in the Department of History at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
My research focuses on United States social and political history from 1960 to 1975. I am particularly interested in the Vietnam War era and the Nixon administration. More broadly, I am interested in how social and political movements shaped political processes during this era. As a doctoral researcher in Human Centered Design, I explore how immersive media and archival technologies can be used to advance broader approaches to historical pedagogy in higher education. My work brings historical scholarship and design research together to reimagine how we preserve, present, and interact with public history in the classroom and in the world.
Beyond academia, I have a passion for skateboarding, exploring hiking trails, and urban photography. I also enjoy traveling and visiting historical sites, which adds valuable dimension to my life and work.
Courses Taught
HIST 1811 THE SIXTIES: HISTORY AND MEMORIES
This course traces the development of the 1960s and the first four years of the 1970s in United States politics and society. With a focus on civil rights, presidential politics, the Vietnam War, and a special focus on the Nixon Administration and Watergate, students in this course will learn about emerging themes of the period which culminate in the Watergate Scandal and the downfall of the Nixon Administration.
This 3 credit course was taught by Steven Miller at University of Minnesota in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024.
STUDENT REFLECTIONS
Very passionate and engaging lecturer. Was able to tell moments in history like stories rather than reading off of slides, which made this class very interesting. -S.F., 2023
Steven has been a very great lecturer for this class. He made the course more interesting than it had been before, by explaining the history with more than just reading off notes, but by talking about the events with passion making you feel as if you were at the events he was talking about. As someone who is not very familiar with history, his method of lecturing has been the most beneficial for me when it comes to understanding the material that he is teaching as he makes it both informative and very interesting to listen to. His lecturing makes me actually interested in a class that I wasn’t overall very interested in prior to the class. Overall, very great lecture. -M.R., 2023
His passion for the material shows and he makes us think critically about how different events may have impacted one another in a very creative and experimental way that gets everyone very engaged and involved. -B.L., 2023
Steven presented the material in a way that kept me engaged and I felt like I left with a good understanding of the topics we discussed. He interacted with the class and asked our opinions which I felt not only kept us engaged but helped us comprehend the material in a way that made sense as opposed to just taking in information. -K.K., 2023
I enjoyed his passion about the information and energy in prompting students to engage with it. The assignments were interesting and the grading was lenient as long as you put in effort. Overall a great experience. -S.T., 2023
LISTEN
Below is a brief excerpt from a recorded lecture delivered as part of my HIST 1811 course. This excerpt illustrates my pedagogical approach to teaching 20th-century U.S. political history. I use a modified Socratic method to promote discussion, analytical reasoning, and close engagement with historical sources and interpretations.
Dissertation
My dissertation, “A Human Centered History: Exploring Immersive Engagement with U.S. Social and Political Memory in the Watergate Era,” examines how immersive design tools—particularly virtual reality (VR) and gaming environments—can enhance the pedagogical impact of complex social and political history teaching and research. Using Watergate and the Nixon administration as a case study, the dissertation draws from a range of historical sources—including archival documents, audiovisual media, and governmental records—to design and evaluate immersive, user-centered experiences that enable engagement with political history across thematic and spatial frameworks. Through qualitative and quantitative user testing, the research examines how such immersive environments support civic memory, historical literacy, and emotional engagement. The broader aim is to explore how these tools might generate increased academic interest in the historical discipline, enhance student comprehension and retention, and potentially offer new models of public engagement and institutional sustainability for history departments.