Rate My Professor Hyacinth Miller

Hyacinth Miller serves as Assistant Teaching Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science in the School of Arts and Sciences–Newark at Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey - Newark. She also holds a concurrent appointment as Lecturer in the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies at Rutgers–New Brunswick and directs the public service leadership program at the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America at Rutgers-Newark. Additionally, she is the Internship & Study Abroad Director for Africana Studies. Miller's academic background includes a B.A. in Political Science and Africana Studies, earned cum laude from Brooklyn College, CUNY; an M.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University; and ongoing Ph.D. studies in the Joint PhD Program in Global Urban Studies and Urban Systems at Rutgers, with her dissertation examining Black women in elected office.

Professor Miller's research centers on Black women’s political leadership, Caribbean political development, and Black immigrant political incorporation. Her current scholarship analyzes the political engagement of Black women in elected positions domestically and internationally, emphasizing campaign emergence, strategies, and electoral success implications for surrogate representation. A key ongoing project, The Garden State’s Black Politics, explores Black women's political paths and influence in New Jersey offices. As co-founder of the Rutgers University Atlantic Reparatory Justice Research Lab, she investigates CARICOM's reparations demands and related political-legal responses. Her publication record includes the article “Black, Foreign-Born and Elected: West Indians in New Jersey’s Political Offices” published in the National Political Science Review (2018, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 79-96). Prior to her academic career, Miller worked in public policy and advocacy, holding positions with the U.S. House of Representatives, New York City Council, New York State Assembly, Association of Paroling Authorities International, and JEHT Foundation, focusing on government affairs, immigration, criminal justice reform, nonprofit leadership, and institutional development. Among her honors are the 2026-27 Cheryl Wall Faculty Fellowship, Rutgers Global Faculty Innovation in Global Learning award, a Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program waitlist placement, and a nomination for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. She teaches courses including Introduction to Comparative Politics, Caribbean Politics, Government and Politics of Africa, and Introduction to Caribbean Studies.