Just call Tonya Miller the reluctant role model. Actually, it's not that she doesn't want to be one, it just never occurred to her that she was one until someone mentioned it.

In 1999 this bundle of energy from New Jersey became the first African American to receive a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from Old Dominion. In fact, when she began working on the degree in 1992, she was the first African American to enroll in the program.

This feat drew the attention of the editors of Ebony magazine, who named Miller one of the 30 leaders of the future under age 30 and featured her in their January 2001 issue. However, when the call came from one of the magazine's reporters, Miller didn't know what to think. The reporter, Lynn Norman, told her she'd been nominated for the honor - by whom Miller still doesn't know - and that she might be included in the final list of 30 nominees.

While the honor was unexpected, it wasn't unappreciated. "I did think, 'If I'm not in it, I'm going to cry,'" she said candidly with a laugh. But, when the magazine hit the newsstands, there she was on the same page with the national director of education for the NAACP, the president of the Greater Atlanta Millennium Section of the National Council of Negro Women, and an actor and writer, among others.

Miller is a performance development specialist for General Electric in Atlanta, where she is creating some diversity and work-life initiatives, as well as a performance appraisal plan for nonexempt employees.

The national exposure from Ebony certainly hasn't hurt Miller's career. "I've been put on some very high-profile projects, working with senior vice presidents and directors," said Miller, who only started working for GE last August.

However, to anyone who knows her, it is clear she most likely would have been invited to work on those projects even without the Ebony profile. Her initiative and intelligence would have taken her there on her own.

And while she is proud of the color of her skin, as well as her gender, what she hopes is that people see Tonya Miller as an individual independent of labels. "It doesn't matter if you are part of the majority or minority," she explained. "You stand on your own ground."

For Miller, that ground is expansive. While at Old Dominion she was an adjunct faculty member and did volunteer work with the Big Sisters program. She plans to find another adjunct position at an Atlanta-area school and eventually open her own consulting firm.

And from there, who knows.

What Miller does know is that she's proud of where she's been; she's excited about where's she's going; and she's grateful that Old Dominion helped her on her way.