In the summer of 1969 Easy Rider opened across the country, the death toll in Vietnam exceeded that of the Korean War, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was embroiled in controversy over the death of Mary Jo Koepechne and Robert Miller, professor of business, began his career at Missouri Southern.

Miller retired July 31 after 35 years with Missouri Southern.

“Initially you were growing and maturing professionally with the college because it was a brand new baby,” Miller said. “Southern actually became a state college one year before I arrived, the first senior class graduated in the spring of 1969.”

“He was on the committee that hired me,” said Dr. Brad Kleindl, dean of the school of business.

“He will definitely be missed, he was a mentor to a lot of faculty in the school of business,” Kleindl said.

Marketing was his specialty, but he taught management, American Economics, statistics and various other disciplines over the years.

“In the early years we were asked to do a lot of different things, you had new commitments and new challenges,” he said.

At that time instructors taught 15 hours and a night class each semester.

With the addition of faculty and development of more specialties that load was reduced to 12 hours.

“As we matured, we became more departmentalized and as we grew physically, we became more compartmentalized,” he said.

“Years ago, I knew everyone on campus, their kids and wife. We socialized together,” Miller said. “As we have grown, I don’t know everyone across campus anymore, unless I served on a committee with them.”

Miller worked with former Southern business professor Dan Stengel developing the first computer class for the business school.

“When I started here, if you had two young ladies in class that was it, three was unheard of,” he said. “Now the campus is 51 percent female or higher.”

“I’ve had as many as 70 percent female in a class in the last seven to 10 years.”

The standard at the time was for women to seek degrees in nursing or education, if they did not become secretaries or homemakers.

As much as 15 to 20 years ago, around the time our nontraditional student population started dwindling more college age women started attending, he said.

“Anyone who has been on campus as long as he has not only has seen a lot of change on campus, but has impacted faculty and hundreds if not thousands of students over the years,” Kleindl said.

“One of the fun aspects (about this career) has been the students,” Miller said. “I was in a golf tournament in May with 17 of my former students or advisees.”

Miller was the director of the management development institute for 11 years.

“John Tiede was dean of the business school when he and I developed the institute from scratch,” Miller said.

The institute offered courses on-site and on-campus for noncredit as well as consulting work where a prospect would work with a faculty member on a project. When the business school moved into the mansion in 1969, Miller helped then Dean Keith Larimore move furniture.

“I was León’s Dean when he got tenure,” Miller said.

“He and I are good friends, I will certainly miss seeing him around campus,” said University President Julio León.

“Missouri Southern has been very good to me, and I have been very good to Missouri Southern,” Miller said.

Miller plans to travel, spend time with his granddaughter Chloe, work on his landscaping and golf.

“I am doing projects at home that have been on the to do list for some time,” he said.