Marian A.L. Miller 1950-2003

Marian Miller passed away November 2, 2003, following a brave fight against cancer. Marian was one of the founding associate editors of this journal and many of us knew her and her work well. Her friends and colleagues will miss her dearly, and we wanted to pause here to remember and celebrate her academic work as well as her friendship.

Marian received her PhD in International Relations from the University of Southern California Los Angeles in 1988 and began work at the University of Akron in 1990. At the time of her death, she was Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Akron, where she was also active in the Pan-African Studies and International Development Programs and was recognized as an excellent teacher and colleague. She was also an active participant in the International Studies Association, in both the Environmental Studies and Global Development Sections, serving as Chair of the Global Development Section in 1998-1999.

Marian's work, which focused on the intersection between development studies and environmental studies in a global context, has inspired many scholars. Her award-winning book, The Third World in Global Environmental Politics, was an influential and impressive contribution to scholarship, receiving the 1996 International Studies Association's Sprout Award for the best book in global environmental politics. This was the first book to analyze systematically the concerns and issues facing developing countries in the formation of international environmental regimes, and to put them in a political and economic context. The book has been widely assigned in university courses and has been the foundation for many further studies by other scholars.

Marian published an impressive list of articles and book chapters on a remarkable variety of topics and themes. In her too-short career she published on a wide range of complex problems, including biodiversity loss, marine conservation, the toxic waste trade, ozone depletion, and environmental change in the Caribbean. She covered an imposing number of themes, including the formation of international environmental regimes, ecotourism, intellectual property rights, transnational corporations, environmental governance, environment and sovereignty, as well as gender and race. Admirably, she always managed to analyze these issues in the context of the global political economy, highlighting the great inequalities between rich and poor regions of the world.

We knew Marian best as an enthusiastic member of the editorial team that founded the journal Global Environmental Politics. She openly shared her visions which helped to shape the journal, and took on an active editing role. We are planning a special issue of this journal in her memory, which will be published in the coming year, on the theme of the Global South and the Environment.

Even after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, then just a short time later with ovarian cancer, Marian remained dedicated to the issues she felt so strongly about. Right up until the time of her death, she was actively publishing and carrying on her work as associate editor of Global Environmental Politics. Less than a month before her death she wrote to us, apologizing for only having enough "creative energy" for "critical reading," letting us know that with her new treatment she expected to "rebound in 3 to 6 months."

Marian was an inspirational colleague to work with, and her friendship and scholarship will be deeply missed.

Donations may be sent in Marian's name to: Caribbean Health Outreach, 4300 West 58th Place, Los Angeles, CA 90043.