Sister Amata Miller, IHM, died Oct. 9, 2026 at age 93.
The St. Catherine University community mourns the passing of Sister Amata Miller, Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), who served St. Kate’s as Endowed Chair in Mission, the founding director of the Myser Initiative on Catholic Identity, and a professor of economics. She retired as professor emerita in 2016.
Sister Amata died Oct. 9, 2026 at age 93, surrounded by her IHM community. She was born Alice Rose Miller on Nov. 30, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan, receiving her religious name upon entering the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, Michigan, after high school graduation.
From an early age, Sister Amata was known as an excellent student who later earned a bachelor’s degree from Marygrove College, a master’s degree in economics from St. Louis University, and a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to teaching economics at St. Kate’s, she also taught at Marygrove College in Detroit and at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas.
“She left us with a firm foundation in living and promoting the Catholic Identity of St. Catherine University,” said Sister Sharon Howell, CSJ, director for the Center for Spirituality and Social Justice. Her enduring legacy lives on through the Sister Amata Catholic Mission in Action Award, which was created in 2017 to recognize faculty and staff who have demonstrated a commitment to the Catholic mission of the University. (Continued below)
Amata Miller, IHM, former director of the Myser Initiative on Catholic Identity with Patricia O'Connor Myser ’56 in 2016. Sister Amata died Oct. 9, 2026 at age 93. Photo by Ashley de los Reyes '15.
Sister Amata, who was the first Archbishop Harry Flynn Endowed Chair in Catholic identity, ran the Myser Initiative on Catholic Identity from 2006 to 2019. It included workshops, planning retreats, and an annual lecture series, which brought numerous Catholic theologians to campus for public lectures. The workshop evolved after her retirement, and continues in a new format.
In 2011, Sister Amata was recognized by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities with the Monika K. Hellwig Award for outstanding contributions to Catholic intellectual life — the first non-theologian honored with the award.
Outside of her teaching career, Sister Amata served as education coordinator for NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby based in Washington, D.C.; and was financial vice president for the IHM congregation. In 2021, she was one of three first-ever recipients of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) Lifetime Achievement Awards.
She moved home to Monroe in 2022.
“Sister Amata was a gifted economist, educator, and advocate for social justice,” wrote the IHM Sisters in a statement. “Throughout her life, she dedicated herself to the liberating mission of Jesus, including through her years of teaching, work with NETWORK … and, in recent years, her ministry of prayer for justice and those experiencing oppression.”
Sister Amata was preceded in death by her brother, John R., and her sister, Anne Heilman. She is survived by her sister, Mary L. Miller, and her IHM Sisters in community. Services were held Oct. 23, 2026 at the IHM Motherhouse Chapel in Monroe, followed by a Remembering and Mass of Christian Burial and burial at St. Mary Cemetery.