Milet to retire after 39 years

Thirty-nine years, numerous contributions and accomplishments later, theatre professor Jeffrey Milet is retiring.

Milet graduated the Yale School of Drama in 1969, specializing in scenic design, lighting design, performing arts venue design and acoustics. He brought his expertise to Lehigh, offering courses in the same topics, plus technical theater and theater design and technology.

Milet was able to intrigue students on the field through his extensive knowledge on the subject. As a freshman, Wade Belair, ’18, studied under Milet.

“I had very little interest or knowledge about theatre coming into the class, but he turned that around very quickly by making all the content in the class relatable for each us,” Belair said.

Belair said that Milet’s teaching style was “extremely honest, especially when it came to criticism, but at the end of the class you always appreciated it.”

Milet said his favorite part of his time at Lehigh has been the students and that he already misses “the conversations and the interplay between students and faculty.”

“I’m most proud of the students who I’ve made some impact on, who have gone on and done something in my field,” he said.

Throughout his time at Lehigh, Milet became an associate with the theater design and acoustical consulting office of George C. Izenour Associates. He said he is proud of his work with this company and their success designing more than 100 theaters across the country.

Before Milet came to Lehigh there was only a division of speech and theater, which they wanted to combine to make a theatre department. Originally hired to do all of the design work for the new department, roles were changed and Milet was asked to build Lehigh’s theatre department as a whole.

In addition to starting the department, Milet also cofounded Lehigh’s IDEAS program. Fascinated with the relationship between technology and art, Milet gave students the opportunity to explore and learn more about these two topics.

Regarding retirement, Milet said he hasn’t made any definite plans.

“I’m more just waiting to see what happens,” he said. “It will more likely take its shape in some kind of photography, which is something I’ve done professionally as an amateur. It’s something I enjoy doing.