For introductions, listings, etc. (updated March 2006) Alton Miller came to Chicago as a ballet manager. Formerly associate producing director of Arena Stage in his native Washington, D.C., and managing director of the Washington Ballet, he was named general director of Maria Tallchief's Chicago City Ballet in 1983. In 1985 he changed careers when he was appointed press secretary to Mayor Harold Washington, a position he held until the mayor's death in 1987. As a communications consultant he has worked with former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, United Auto Workers, Mayor Wilson Goode of Philadelphia, Chicago City Treasurer Miriam Santos, the Chicago Board of Education, and the Illinois Arts Alliance. He is associate dean of the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago, where he is also a tenured professor. The author of three nonfiction works, in 2005 he was awarded an M.F.A. in Writing by Goddard College. His thesis was a political novel, Chicago Power & Light.