[2][3] After graduation, Mills worked for a year as a United States Liaison Officer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the University of Mazandaran in Babolsar, Iran.[when?]
Between May 1980 and April 1982, Mills held a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to prepare her second book manuscript.
After having spent most of her career in Pennsylvania and Ohio, with research years in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan, she retired to the Pacific Northwest in June 2012.
In 2012, Mills ran for president of AFS but lost to Michael Ann Williams, head of the department of folk studies and anthropology at Western Kentucky University.
We have a (complex) opportunity to make common cause and deepen our conversations with folklorists from abroad whom we invite for AFS meetings and exchange activities.