2012 Meritorious Service Award: Pam Miller

Meritorious Awards are given to individuals who provide significant, public, academic, volunteer or philanthropic service to our campuses and to our Alaska community.

Pamela Miller
Meritorious Service Award

Pamela Miller has been a champion of environmental health and justice for more than 30 years. A graduate of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, with a master's degree in environmental science, Ms. Miller came to Alaska in 1989 where she worked for Greenpeace as a research biologist. In 1997, furthering her commitment to serving the people of Alaska who were asking for technical assistance with environmental health issues, she founded Alaska Community Action on Toxics, or ACAT. Ms. Miller has led the organization in a statewide, national and international effort to protect people from harmful exposures to toxic chemicals and to advocate for the rights of individuals and communities to live in a healthy environment.

Throughout Alaska, ACAT has established successful education programs on contaminants and environmental health for the public, including the Alaska Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE-AK). ACAT's promotion of remediation of formerly used defense sites on St. Lawrence Island led to the prioritization of cleanup of the hazardous waste sites at Northeast Cape and Gambell. In Anchorage, ACAT worked with the school district to implement a least-toxic pest-management policy, and in 2004, the organization negotiated a settlement with the Department of Defense to provide protection to habitat and wildlife on Fort Richardson.

Ms. Miller is a leader in Coming Clean, a national network of groups concerned about chemicals policy reform, and has been instrumental in prompting the ban of toxic chemicals worldwide. In 2011 she was selected as a fellow for the Reach the Decision Makers program from the University of California San Francisco, Reproductive Health and Environment Program, and in 2010, she was invited to participate in an unprecedented White House Forum on Environmental Justice. She also serves as principal investigator for community-based research projects supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

In recognition of her commitment to building a healthy environment and advocating for the rights of communities in Alaska and throughout the world to have clean air, clean water and toxic-free food, the University of Alaska Anchorage proudly confers upon Pamela Miller the meritorious service award.