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The Committed Professor, A Memoir: My Fall from the Lectern to the Psych Ward

By: Kathi N. Miner, PhD
Publisher: KNM Publishing
Publication Date: May 10, 2024
ISBN: 979-8990653504
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: August 26, 2024

In a direct and raw account of horrors, Kathi Miner shares the egregious assaults she experienced during her marriage (and divorce proceedings), across the pages of her memoir: The Committed Professor, A Memoir: My Fall from the Lectern to the Psych Ward.

Before one can delve into Dr. Miner’s countless abuses she endured during her marriage to Seth, one should take pause and read the quote at the beginning: “Silence about trauma also leads to death—the death of a soul:” Bessel V. Van der Kolk. Without question, this is the embodiment of the overarching story about to unfold. Dr. Miner explains how it took her ten years to write her memoir, and I can only surmise it is due to the constant barrage of abuses her ex-husband Seth tortured her soul with. The story opens with Dr. Miner sharing memories of a lighter and happier time—Christmas and the joys she remembered waking up to on this special day. As a child, she emotes the wonders and magic of running down to the tree where Santa has left a bounty of presents for all good little girls and boys. She steps into the loss of her mother when she was barely fifteen due to an allergic reaction and ultimately dying from asphyxiation. From there, the story fast-forwards to her meeting Seth at a party. He is the most gorgeous guy in the room and he ‘picks her.’

Kathi Miner is an accomplished and bright individual. She professes early on how grateful wouldn’t begin to describe how she felt about her life. She takes the reader on the journey of her educational accomplishments to arrive at the coveted and tenured position at a top university, Texas A&M. She is facing down forty and laments over her blessed life—a loving husband, two beautiful children, a magnificent home. How ironic that her studies embodied her own principles and values when it came to combating sexism and gender inequality in relations and society. She was committed to a fault when it came to lecturing on the importance of both. When she learns the husband she has been married to for fifteen years is living a double life of adultery (compounded by his narcissistic abuses that surface after she files for divorce), her last battle will place her in a psychiatric hospital before she begins her long and painful journey of healing.

Kathi Miner holds nothing back in telling her horrific life encounters from the time she met Seth until, like a phoenix, she began her rise from the ashes. The graphic scenes and intentional arrangement of descriptive encounters left me feeling sad, angry, joyous (whenever there was a light of triumph for her) and disgust. While I cannot speak for other women, I can speak first-hand what it is like for a woman in contrast to a man, when a blatant miscarriage of outcome has occurred. Dr. Miner often professes her allegiance with being a feminist, but her story delves deeper. It’s important to note that she never once played her role as the victim. Rather, she is direct and compelling with her word placement to get her point across. I was not familiar with the clinical explanation of what a narcissist is, but after learning the definition, it gave me goosebumps to think I have personally known a few in my lifetime. It’s far too easy to sit in judgment of why a woman (or man) will gravitate toward the abuses and we (as the outsiders) watch in utter disgust because we cannot believe they put up with that. There are a multitude of moments in Dr. Miner’s memoir when I had to take a pause in order to digest simple realities. One quote in particular sums up many facets of abuse: “but like a recovering addict confronted by their drug of choice, it was hard to resist, and I always regretted it when I used…”

Quill says: The Committed Professor, A Memoir: My Fall from the Lectern to the Psych Ward is a tantamount example of the courage it takes to face your demons and the triumph that awaits on the other side.

For more information about The Committed Professor, A Memoir: My Fall from the Lectern to the Psych Ward, please visit the author's website at: kathiminerphd.com