CHSS Distinguished Alumni - Modern and Classical Languages

Dana Milyak is campaign manager with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where she leads strategic fundraising efforts to promote the museum’s mission to understand the natural world and our place in it. Directing prospect management systems, prospect research, goal setting and fundraising strategies, her work advances annual and longer-term campaign goals that support museum-wide collections-based research, science education, exhibits and programming.  

As a fundraising professional with more than 25 years of experience, she has managed fundraising teams and institutional projects focused on building and maintaining support for science and conservation. Prior to joining the Smithsonian in 2011, Dana worked with the Amazon Conservation Team, World Wildlife Fund and the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where she began her career. She earned a BA in advertising from Pennsylvania State University and an MA in Spanish from George Mason University. Milyak is an advocate for the outdoors and loves backpacking, running, gardening, and spending time with her daughter and two dogs.