Legacy Lecture Series

Dr. Richard "Rick" Henry Miller was born in the Hollywood area to Jewish parents who owned a small furniture store. He was raised in western Los Angeles and attended a Hebrew school. He grew up fishing on the Malibu Pier, played on a bowling league, and received excellent grades in school. He received his bachelor’s degree in geology from San Fernando State College (1965) and attended UCLA for graduate school in geology with an emphasis in paleontology. During grad school, he was offered a teaching assistantship. This is where he discovered his gift for teaching (1967). He was offered another teaching assistantship at the University of Texas at Austin. He returned to California (1968), where his academic career began at his alma mater, San Fernando Valley State College (1970). On a field trip with students to Death Valley, he made an “accidental” discovery of microscopic fossils in a rock sample (1971). This experience motivated him to attend PhD school at UCLA (1972). His research focused on microfossils in California.

After he received his PhD, he took a position at San Diego State University. He took an early retirement (2001) and moved to St. George! He has been an adjunct professor at Utah Tech and a volunteer lecturer at the Institute for Continued Learning. He refers to St. George as a “geologic wonderland.” He has a nice view from his backyard of Pine Valley Mountain, which is the largest known igneous laccolith in the world!

You may also like the following events from St. George Tabernacle:

• This month, 24th January, 07:00 pm, Voices of Descendants in Saint George