When President Miller arrived at Hamline in July 2015, she immediately had ideas for ways to better campus. One way of doing so was to have presidential office hours.

“I started doing my office hours as soon as I arrived,” President Miller said in an interview during her office hours on Friday, Feb. 23. “I arrived here in July 2015 and told the two students who were head of the Student Congress at the time what I had wanted to do, and they were very much on board.”

Ever since they started, Miller’s office hours have been quite popular.

“Most of the time they fill out,” Miller said. “I have office hours every month. Usually I end up with every time taken. And that’s why I say that, even if every time is taken, there’s no reason that you can’t come talk to me. You can always schedule an appointment, especially near the time of the office hours since then I’ll be on campus for sure.”

Despite the generally high turnout, students still find it difficult to know exactly when the office hours will be.

“I’m not really too aware of President Miller’s office hours,” first-year Spencer Larson said. “I remember hearing about them existing way back during convocation, but I haven’t heard anything about them since. It’d be nice to have the information more accessible.”

Other students have had difficulty scheduling appointments.

“I’ve heard my friends talking about the office hours before,” first-year Kiley Eck said. “They mentioned how they want to talk to President Miller about a few various things, but can never find out how and when to schedule an appointment.”

One potential reason behind this is that President Miller is not actually in charge of scheduling her office hours.

“When I first got here, the Student Congress actually organized the office hours. They were the ones who put the times online and organized everything,” Miller said. “I say ‘put them on the calendar’ and they do. Anne Pierre [President Miller’s office administrator] takes care of that. And as I said, the Student Congress controls the signup. I’m just here, and the students show up during the scheduled times. I love it, I much enjoy being able to talk to the students.”

It seems that students would be very willing and eager to attend Miller’s office hours if they knew more about them.

“I would be excited about going to her office hours,” Larson said. “I think it’d be nice to get to know President Miller better. I’m not sure if there’d be a certain agenda I’d have to follow, but I’d appreciate the chance to meet her and get to close that gap between students and faculty.”

Giving students this sort of ability is President Miller’s main reason behind holding her office hours.

“There is never a set agenda,” Miller said. “The student’s come with their own agenda. They can talk to me about anything they’d like, and I’ll gladly listen. Whether it’s issues that they have on campus, ideas for new things they’d like to see, or just getting to know me better, I’m happy to talk with students about anything.”

Anyone interested in attending President Miller’s office hours can find more specific information on monthly schedules are urged to visit the Student Congress website.