NCFR Recognizes Richard B. Miller for Outstanding Mentorship

Richard B. Miller

The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is proud to recognize Richard B. Miller, Ph.D., as the 2019 recipient of the Kathleen Briggs Outstanding Mentor Award, which recognizes an outstanding mentor of students and new professionals in the area of marriage and family therapy.

Dr. Miller is the chair of the Sociology Department and the former director of the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University (BYU). Prior to teaching at BYU, he taught at Kansas State University for 11 years, where he served as program director of the marriage and family therapy (MFT) program. Dr. Miller received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at BYU and earned his doctorate at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Miller is passionate about enhancing clinical research in the field, and he has worked to elevate training in advanced statistical methods in MFT doctoral programs. His personal program of research focuses on therapist effects and effective therapist behaviors in couple therapy. He has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters, and he has edited two books. An MFT professor for over 30 years, he loves mentoring and collaborating with graduate students. 

In his letter of nomination, Shayne Anderson, Ph.D., notes the impact of Dr. Miller’s mentorship on his own life, and details many of his mentoring activities:

“[Dr. Miller] has chaired 15 doctoral students and 26 master’s students who have written master’s theses as well as many others at K-State who didn’t opt for the thesis option. He has published 62 articles in peer-reviewed journals. 42 of them (67.7%) included a student author. He has also coauthored three book chapters with students. In all, he has had 43 student co-authors. Beyond his direct mentorship, his influence is trickling down to other programs across the country where ten of his previous students are now serving as faculty.”

Dr. Miller will be recognized for his achievement at the 2019 NCFR Annual Conference, Nov. 20-23 in Fort Worth, Texas.

This award is given in honor of Kathleen Briggs, a long-time Family Therapy Section member and leader. She was committed to mentoring marriage and family therapy graduate students and new professionals. Dr. Briggs was well-known and respected for her leadership, insight, optimism, enthusiasm, and mentoring.

The National Council on Family Relations is the premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families. NCFR has a membership of nearly 3,000 family researchers, practitioners and educators. For more information on the National Council on Family Relations or its scholarly publications, visit the NCFR website at ncfr.org.