Pam Miller

One of the many advantages of working in intercollegiate athletics is the chance to interact with and get to know so many people – fellow staff members, coaches, student-athletes, faculty members, coaches and staff members from other universities, boosters, parents, media, and the list goes on.

Of the many people I have met, and will continue to meet during my career as an athletic administrator, Dr. Pam Miller ranks right at the top of the list…..which is what makes her passing away on February 24 so difficult.

Dr. Miller was an Associate Professor of Business at NSU. That was her title but she was so much more. The passion she had for being the best instructor and mentor possible to students in NSU’s highly reputable College of Business was remarkable. I repeatedly heard that student-athletes had the highest level of respect for Pam and for how she pushed them and encouraged them. Yes, she loved athletics but she was not going to cut a student-athlete any slack. Former Demon and current Baltimore Raven David Pittman, a graduate of the NSU College of Business, made a special trip back to Louisiana for Dr. Miller’s funeral. Does that say it all or what?!

Pam and her husband, Pat, were huge fans of the NSU athletic program. I remember seeing them at a baseball game a couple of years ago while she was going through a rigorous regimen of chemotherapy. It never occurred to Pam that she should not be at the game. When the Lady Demons (former guard Diamond Cosby and forward Dee Dee Favors were two of her favorites) won the Southland Conference tournament in 2004, Pam had to leave the game (not happy, I should add) at halftime to catch a flight en route to a conference. She made sure that I knew how important it was to call her with the final score. Pam loved to tell the story of how she screamed and hollered so loudly when NSU beat Iowa in the NCAA Tournament last March, while watching the game in the middle of a treatment, that the staff ran into her room thinking something was wrong.

Pam Miller was one of the best advocates for the NSU athletic program on our campus. More than that, however, she was a good person, humble, funny, so easy to talk to, and about as well-grounded as you could get. As her colleague and good friend, Dr. Margaret Kilcoyne said, she did not want anyone to feel sorry for her because she was sick.

Actually, I feel sorry for future NSU students who will not have the opportunity to spend time under the tutelage of an outstanding teacher and an even better person.

Greg Burke, Director of Athletics