Meet a Colleague: John X. Miller ’77 John X. Miller ’77 serves as the Glynn Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications.

W&L News Office
February 19, 2025

Q. How long have you worked at W&L?
This is my third opportunity to teach at W&L. The first time was in 2006 as the Donald J. Reynolds Visiting Professor in Journalism. Last spring, I served as the Griffith Visiting Professor of Journalism. Now, I am the Glynn Visiting Lecturer of Journalism and Communication and have been teaching winter term.

Q. What courses are you teaching this term?
This term I’m teaching 2 courses: Sports Journalism and Sports Media and Power.

Q. What is your favorite course to teach, and why? 
Sports Media and Power. It’s my favorite because I expose students — several whom are W&L athletes or who grew up with sports in their background — to the pervasiveness of the sports’ sociological, economic and cultural impact on society. I hope to expose them to the study of how sports socialize us and how research gives us insights into the context and dynamics of participation as fans, athletes and non-athletes.

Q. What do you like most about working at W&L?
Working with some of the brightest, committed and open-minded students in the world.

Q. Where is your favorite location on the W&L campus?
Cafe’ 77 because it’s a great gathering place for students and typifies W&L’s inclusiveness. And also because it is a gift from my W&L graduating class of 1977.

Q. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
Go to the beach near Lantana, Florida.

Q. Where did you grow up?
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Because my dad was a coach and I was an athlete, I wanted be a pro athlete. But if I couldn’t, I would find a career that was sports-adjacent like covering sports and sports media.

Q. What is the most adventurous thing that you have ever done?
Going skydiving.

Q. What book are you reading now?
“Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less” by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz.

Q. What music are you listening to these days?
Jeff Lorber and anything from his Jazz Funk Soul group.

Q. What is the website you visit most often and why?
ESPN.com and you know why!

Q. If you could have coffee with one person, who would it be and why?
It wouldn’t be over coffee, but I’d like to have a conversation with Jesus.

Q. What is your favorite film (movie) of all time?
There are so many but I throw out “Remember the Titans.”

Q. What is your desert island food?
Coconut.

Q. Tell us something most people don’t know about you.
I am a survivor of prostate cancer.

Q. What is your secret talent?
Empathy.

Q. Anything else you’d like to share?
Given the times in which we live, I believe that any institution that stands on its principles will survive and thrive.