Professor of English and American Literature and Language D.A. Miller accepted a tenure post at Columbia University's English Department earlier this week.

Miller, a scholar of gay studies and 19th-century literature who teaches the seminar "Topics in Gay Male Representation," will leave Harvard at the end of the spring semester, English and American Literature and Language Department Chair Leo P. Damrosch confirmed yesterday.

Miller's extensive academic and personal connections in New York influenced his decision to move, according to Damrosch.

"He's always had a lot of friends in New York," Damrosch said. "He's going as much for New York as for Columbia."

Miller, who teaches seminars entitled "The 19th-Century Novel," and "Hitchcock," in addition to his course on gay male representation, has made many valuable contributions to the department and has drawn many graduate students to Harvard, Damrosch said.

"We're extremely sorry to lose him," Damrosch said. "He was brought here originally as a distinguished critic of the novel...In addition, he's gone into gay studies in ways that were also very valuable."

Although it will be difficult to find other senior faculty members to instruct courses similar to Miller's, other members of the department have expressed interest in teaching courses in gay studies next year, Damrosch said.

Columbia students are enthusiastic aboutMiller's arrival, Columbia English Departmentadministrator Joy Hayton said.

"We have a lot of students with dissertationsconcerning gay studies," Hayton said. "There are alot of students anxious for [Miller] to come."

At Columbia, Miller will teach courses in gaystudies, Broadway musicals and Jane Austen's work,in addition to basic courses on 19th-centuryliterature, Hayton said.

Miller has already taught at Columbia as avisiting scholar in the fall of 1988. He hadpreviously taught at UC Berkeley.

Miller could not be reached for commentyesterday