Jacquelyn Miller received her B.S. from Milligan College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. with a specialization in early American and early modern European history from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

She joined the Seattle University Department of History in 1994, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2000, and served as the Department Chair from 2001–05, as the Director of the Diversity, Social Justice, and Citizenship track in the University Core from 2003–05, and as the Director of the Women’s Studies program from 2001–02. She served as the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs from 2006 to 2012. In that role, she oversaw the development of CETL (now the Center for Faculty Development) and the creation of ORSSP, chaired a task force on campus diversity, led a working group on the assessment of learning outcomes, served on the Faculty Handbook Revision Committee and acted as Title IX Coordinator for the university.

On retirement at the end of June 2019, Jacquelyn became Professor Emerita at Seattle University. She continues to contribute to the university's NSF-funded ADVANCE grant, and keeps close ties to the Center for Faculty Development.