Ms Jillian Miller

I am a Mirning woman with family ties to the West Coast of South Australia. In 2006, I accepted a position at the University of South Australia as Coordinator Indigenous Student Services after 37 years employment with DECS. I was invited by Denise Bradley to be the Indigenous member of the University Council in 2002 and remained a member until my employment within the university in 2006. I also chaired the University Indigenous Education and Research Advisory Committee.

In my previous role as Superintendent Aboriginal Education I had state wide responsibility for Aboriginal Education in South Australia from 2000 -2005. In that role I chaired DECS committees and was a member the National MCEETYA Task Force on Indigenous Education and the inaugural chairperson of the Senior Officers Nation Network Indigenous Education (SONNIE).

My present role is within Indigenous Student Services. Indigenous Student Services is a coherent unit within the David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research, Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences of the University of South Australia. It was consolidated in February 1996 as a consequence of a major review into Aboriginal and Islander support services throughout the university. Indigenous Student Services provides services for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with on-campus locations at City East, City West, Magill, Mawson Lakes and the Centre for Regional Engagement in Whyalla and Mount Gambier and at three off-campus centres at Ceduna, Port Lincoln and Port Augusta.

Indigenous Student Services

• I have achieved Supported Researcher status in 2008 and continued in 2009.
• In 2007 I won $200,000 for two research projects commissioned by Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) in response to recommendations from Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Committee (IHEAC).
• "Establishing good practice models of leadership which focus on professional development of academic and general staff and building and sustaining Indigenous participation, retention and success in higher education" and
• "A Study of the first year experiences of Indigenous students at Australian universities"
• Both reports are available by contacting Shona McQueen Director – Indigenous Higher Education Policy Higher Education Group Dept of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations P O Box 9880 (Loc: C71NB3) Canberra ACT 2601 Email: shona.mcqueen@deewr.gov.au
• My main research interest is the retention and success of Indigenous students within education and Indigenous presence withinin the academy.