Student-professor connection shaped through mutual admiration

A few years ago, Ben Dattilo, veteran professor of geology at Purdue University Fort Wayne, walked into a new class and informed his students that the Disability Access Center was available if needed. Taking things into her own hands, Jacqueline Miller had already signed up and organized through the DAC accommodations, which are applications students dealing with disabilities are allowed and encouraged to use.

When Miller introduced herself after class as a deaf student, Dattilo said with a grin, “Oh, you’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?”

As is his nature, Dattilo was kidding, having no idea how much Miller and he would positively affect each other. Over time, they have built a partnership transcending most professors and students, becoming each other’s biggest fans.

Miller could have packed up her books and run from academia decades ago to find an easier life. Since grade school, she’s been dealing with dyscalculia—a form of dyslexia but with numbers—mixing digits so much they are incomprehensible.

“I can look at a 5 and a 2, and to me they look like the same number,” Miller said. “If you give me three digits, I transpose them, or I might double one of them. And don’t ask me what a fraction is.”

Miller, 46, also deals with Meniere’s disease, causing vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus, and hearing loss in both ears at different levels. The left is more extreme than the right, and hearing aids don’t help.

“There are times I swear I can hear a pin drop, but other times I can’t hear anything,” Miller said. “Most of the time, all the sounds I hear are segmented.”

To compensate, Miller uses captions on her phone, concentrates on reading lips or making educated guesses on body language, and hopes the professors utilize caption services or record their lectures so she can study them later. Not everyone does, and because attendance is part of her grade, she often sits in class and works on homework. When the record service the university pays for works, it takes a minimum 48 hours to arrive.

“I just want the opportunity and that’s all I want,” Miller said. “I want people to realize what accommodations can do to level the playing field without giving me an edge on anyone else.”

Miller really wants the chance to raise her hand and participate in classroom discussions, to be seen as part of the group, to have intellectual conversations about the things she loves, biology and science. Miller often waits for the captions to post, meaning she can’t catch up with the conversation to answer a question when asked.

Where it may take most students two or three hours of studying for every one hour spent in class, Miller requires 8–10 hours to digest the material.  The challenges are so harsh that it took her 10 years to earn an associate degree in junior college, taking algebra 11 times before finally earning an A. That allowed her to graduate.

Miller calls her academic attempts the character-building mountain she climbs from the bottom every day.

Instructors such as Steve Stevenson in chemistry and biochemistry, Liliya Frolova in chemistry, and Jordan Marshall in biology have spent extra time helping Miller. Among others, friends Allyssa Hennessey, B.S. ’23, M.S. ’25, and seniors Riley Schmitt, Aria Baker, and Alta Upton have consistently spent hours studying and providing their support.

In addition to the support she received from the DAC, Miller was a fixture in the Math and Science Tutoring and Testing Center every week. Through extraordinary perseverance and determination, Miller earned her bachelor's degree in biology in May 2024, nine years after she began studying at PFW.

She’s now working on her master’s degree under Dattilo’s mentorship. He’s often seen as gruff, older, and something of a grouch—a reputation he begs her not to ruin. Sometimes all Miller has to do is cough or say “Professor,” and he’ll turn with a nod of acknowledgement and repeat whatever he was saying. Turns out she can usually hear his baritone voice.

In return, Miller manages Dattilo’s research lab and makes sure everyone is involved, able, and encouraged. Datillo said it’s the best his lab has run in 10 years. She also helps lead his spring break academic trips to the Bahamas.

“I am so glad she’s here,” Datillo said. “She’s a leader and I trust her. I mean, don’t tell her that to her face—like she doesn’t know anyway. Don’t let anybody know because I’m not supposed to be that nice, but yeah, I adore her.”

Miller said Datillo has been one of the kindest people throughout her time at PFW and credits him for being on track to receive her master’s degree in May. She desperately wants that degree and to become a biology professor.

“I think if I were at a bigger school, I would have given up earlier without the intimacy PFW gives you to keep on trying,” Miller said. “I mean, they never kicked me out, and they handed me a degree in ’24, and they’re about to hand me a masters. I just don’t quit, and PFW has helped me with that.”