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On July 1, 2015, Dr. Fayneese S. Miller became the 20th President of Hamline University. She is the first African-American and second woman to hold the position. Prior to her appointment as president, Dr. Miller was the dean of the College of Education and Social Services and Professor of Leadership and Developmental Sciences at the University of Vermont. From 1985-2005, she was a professor of education at Brown University and served as Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, and was the founding chairman of Ethnic Studies.

Dr. Miller led Hamline University’s collaboration with then-William Mitchell College of Law to form the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. She has overseen the university’s largest first-year enrollment growth, launched the Take the Lead Campaign, increased the endowment, strengthened the honors program for first-year students, added new academic programs including business analytics, computational sciences, and contemporary music, and created the university’s Statement of Civility. In addition, she has invested in several signature programs at Hamline, including forensic science, criminal justice, legal studies, and accounting. Under Dr. Miller, the university has experienced significant growth in the number of students applying for and successfully receiving national awards like the Truman Scholarship and Fulbright Awards. In 2018, the American Association of Colleges and Universities, with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, selected Hamline as one of ten Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation campuses in ten United States.

Dr. Miller serves on the following local boards—Twin Cities Public Television, Minnesota Opera, Schubert Club, Minnesota Private College Council, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Constellation Fund, Governor's Residence Council, and Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Nationally, she serves on the Board of Governors for the NCAA and is the Chairman of NCAA’s Division III President’s Council. In addition, she serves on the boards of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, New American Colleges and Universities, the International Association of Methodist-Related Schools, Colleges, and Universities, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, College Possible, the Education Advisory Board, and the American Council of Education Fellows Program.

Dr. Miller received her BA in psychology from Hampton University, MS and PhD in experimental/social psychology from Texas Christian University, and completed post-doctoral training in applied social psychology from Yale University. She has published several books and articles on the social, racial, and political development of adolescents and conducted research for the State of Rhode Island on race and gender bias in the courts, and on school-based truancy courts. She has been an invited lecturer throughout the U.S. and in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, China, Australia, and the United Kingdom.