Dr. Betty Miller Unterberger

Dec. 27, 1922 – May 15, 2012

Dr. Betty Miller Unterberger, 89, of College Station passed away peacefully Tuesday morning, May 15, 2012 at her residence. A Memorial Service is set for 2 p.m. Sunday, May 20 in the All Faiths Chapel on the campus of Texas A&M. Services have been entrusted to Trevino-Smith Funeral Home.

Dr. Unterberger was born December 27, 1922 in Glasgow, Scotland to Joseph "Scotty" and Leah Milner Miller. She was a graduate of Syracuse University, magna cum laude with an A.B. in 1943; an M.A. from Harvard University in 1946, and in 1950 received her Ph.D. from Duke University where her dissertation was awarded "Best Dissertation in any field, 1950-53." Her first book, The U.S., Revolutionary Russia, and the Rise of Czechoslovakia, received universal praise for its sophisticated and very detailed analysis, and is seen as the classic study in the field.

Unterberger was the first tenured female professor at Texas A&M, shattering the glass ceiling. She was a founding member and the first female president of the Society for Historians in American Foreign Relations (SHAFR). She served on the Texas A&M Athletic Council and was an avid Aggie fan. Unterberger was also a leading voice for the Freedom of Information Act and served on the CIA Advisory Committee for Access to Documents and Open Information. Following her retirement from Texas A&M, Unterberger received a personal letter of appreciation for her service from Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA.

She was responsible for nominating Rev. Pandurang Shastiji Athavale for the 1.2 million dollar Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion which was awarded to Athavale by H.R.H. Prince Phillip in Westminster Abbey in 1997, which it was her honor to attend. For 36 years she was a remarkable presence in the lives of her colleagues and those she taught, receiving numerous teaching awards. She was particularly proud of the role she played mentoring and inspiring her female students.

For nearly 40 years Dr. Unterberger led a prayer and meditation group every Sunday night centered on the Edgar Cayce readings and the book A Course In Miracles.

She is preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Mimi, and Diane; a son Glen Unterberger; and a niece Melissa Miller.

Survivors include her loving husband of 67 years Dr. Robert R. Unterberger, Professor Emeritus, Texas A&M; her daughter, Rev. Dr. Gail Unterberger and husband Randall Adams; her son Gregg Unterberger; two brothers Harold, and Mike Miller; 2 grandchildren, Ben Adams and Maureen Dominguez and 3 great grandchildren, Carina Maria Adams, Luca Adams, and Gabriel Dominguez.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to any of the following: UNICEF; the Texas A&M Foundation for the Betty Miller Unterberger Memorial Fund (401 George Bush Drive, College Station, TX 77840), or to Dr. Jon Mundy, The Institute for Personal Religion and Miracles Magazine (miraclesmagazine.org/donate_counseling.htm or 845-496-9089).

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