Originally from Salem, Illinois, Dr. Jerome M. "Jerry" Mileur received his Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication in 1955 and his Ph.D. in Government in 1971, both from SIUC. He earned a master's degree from the University of Illinois in 1958.

Dr. Mileur taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Southern Illinois University, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before beginning his career with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst as an instructor of government in 1967. Currently, he is chair of the political science department at Amherst. He has served as the editor of Polity, the journal of the Northeastern Political Science Association and as president of that association. In 1997, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst awarded him a chancellor's medal.

Dr. Mileur is the former owner of the Harrisburg Senators, a minor league baseball team for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Last summer, thirteen boxes containing financial and operating papers pertaining to the team, were accepted for historical research purposes into the Cooperstown library. The papers are the first of their kind in the hall's archives.

Dr. Mileur has served on the SIU Alumni Association Board of Directors, the SIU Foundation Board of Directors and the SIUC College of Liberal Arts Advisory Council. He also is responsible for establishing the "Ward Morton and David Kenney Public Affairs Lecture Series" honoring his two favorite professors at SIUC.