Josephine Miles was a poet and the first woman tenured in the English Department at UC Berkeley, holding the position of University Professor. Born in 1911 in Chicago, her family moved to Southern California when she was young. She received a Bachelor’s degree in English literature from UCLA and a doctorate from UC Berkeley. From 1943 to 1978, Miles taught in the English Department at UC Berkeley. In 1973, she was appointed to the position of University Professor of English. Miles received many highly coveted fellowships and awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1939 and the Blumenthal Award for poetry in 1959. In this interview, she discusses her childhood in the Midwest, the English department at UC Berkeley, literacy improvement programs of the 1970s, and her University Professorship. This interview is part of a group of interviews documenting literature, publishing, and printing in the Bay Area.