Miller, Distinguished Teaching Award

Headmaster Pete Sanders awarded Science Instructor Shauna Miller the 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award in Hyde Chapel May 5.
This award is given annually to a faculty member who demonstrates excellence in the classroom and extracurricular activities. The student body and fellow faculty members met the recognition of Miller’s service with a thunderous standing ovation. 

Sanders described how Miller’s AP and Honors Environmental students have been seen identifying and measuring trees around campus, setting up wildlife cameras in the woods, and analyzing microscopic life in creek water. Her students have carried their personal litter in plastic bags to understand how much trash they generate, and they have buried cotton underwear for months to see firsthand how microbes feed on organic matter. 

“Mrs. Miller is not one to stand by and direct; she eagerly gets her hands dirty in the science along with her students,” Sanders said. “She takes boys to Lone Oaks Farm in Middleton to conduct environmental experiments alongside staff scientists from The University of Tennessee.”

Education runs in Miller’s family. Her mother, Mrs. Marlene Shaw, is the former head of St. Mary’s School and an educational consultant. Her stepfather, Mr. Al Shaw, taught physics at MUS from 2003-12.

The Shaws along with Miller’s husband, Kevin, were in the audience for the award presentation alongside their three sons: Hudson Miler ’19, Catcher Miller ’24, and Stanton Miller ’25. 

“She knows from experience how to reach and teach boys,” Sanders said.
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