Dr. Niya Pickett Miller teaches communication studies courses in the Department of Communication and Media at Samford University. Her research focuses on visual and rhetorical criticism of identity in popular culture and media.

She has published journal articles, book chapters, and books in this area, and has received honors for her research, including the 2019 Top Faculty Paper award from the Alabama Communication Association and the 2021 AACD Top Paper award from the National Communication Association. She is a past president of the Alabama Communication Association and a member of both the National Communication Association and the Southern States Communication Association.

She was a 2019 TEDx Birmingham speaker, the 2022 keynote speaker at the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH) national conference, and a 2023 keynote speaker at the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation national conference.

Degrees and Certifications

• PhD, Communication Studies, University of Southern Mississippi
• MS, Human resource management, Troy University
• MA, Communication Studies, University of Alabama
• BA, Telecommunication and Film, University of Alabama