Mississippi College Graduate Summerann Miller Joins MC Advancement Staff

Summerann Miller

Mississippi College graduate Summerann Miller returned to her alma mater in early January to join the legal staff of the university’s Office of Advancement.

A Florida native, Miller fills the new position of coordinator of foundations and legal compliance on the Clinton campus.

“She will be an asset to the advancement team on a variety of initiatives in institutional legal compliance,” said Bill Townsend, MC vice president for advancement and legal counsel to President Lee Royce. “We welcome her to the Mississippi College community.”

Enrolling more than 5,000 students, Baptist-affiliated Mississippi College and more than 3,000 higher education institutions nationwide are subject to a growing number of local, state and federal legal requirements.

“I’m thrilled to be here. I feel like I’m home,” Miller said Friday at her Nelson Hall office.

The 28-year-old Clinton resident received her bachelor’s in business administration from Mississippi College in 2007 and earned her MBA from MC in 2009. Miller is a 2011 graduate of the Mississippi College School of Law in downtown Jackson. Miller worked at Greenwood-based Viking Range before joining the university’s advancement staff on January 2.

Her ties to Mississippi College go back a decade.

About ten years ago, the close-knit MC family in Clinton became the perfect fit for Miller when visiting the campus near Jackson for the first time with her father, the late Ronie Shuler. The Florida businessman encouraged his daughter, a 2004 graduate of the private Maclay School in Tallahassee, to attend a small Christian university.

“It felt like a family,” Summerann said. “I love the Christian values this place upholds and loved the excellent education it provides.” As an MC undergraduate, she was a member of the Nenamoosha social tribe.

Summerann grew up in small-town Bristol, the Liberty County seat with a population of nearly 1,000 people. Settled in 1859 with three saw mills, grist mills, a hotel and a few churches, the rural Florida Panhandle community sits 50 miles west of Tallahassee. Nearby forests, the town is surrounded by the 112-mile Apalachicola River that empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Blue and gold is a big part of the Miller family. Her husband, Hunter Miller, earned his bachelor’s in business administration from Mississippi College in 2007 and a degree in Spanish from the Christian university a year later. He works in a management position with Peco Foods in Canton.

The couple could have settled in a number of places in metro Jackson, but chose Clinton. “We love the community,” Summerann said. “Many of my friends from MC live here.” The Millers attend First Baptist Church Clinton.

The Clintonian enjoys road trips to visit her mother, Patti Shuler, a resident of Eastpoint, a Franklin County community in northwest Florida.