Distinguished Mississippi College (MC) professor and scholar David Miller has served since 2017 as the chief reader for the Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature and Composition exam and will do so again this year.

It’s not an easy assignment for the MC professor of nearly three decades. Miller selects and manages 950 readers, all educators, who gather to review student essays, key parts of the AP exam. The event is organized and run by the Educational Testing Service based in Princeton, N.J.

Miller also serves on the committee responsible for the content of the exam. Each year AP tests open the door for outstanding high school students to receive college credits.

Miller’s colleagues say it is a well-earned responsibility.

“It’s a testimony to his boundless energy and teaching excellence,” said Jonathan Randle, dean of the MC School of Humanities and Social Sciences. “By nature, he’s an enthusiast of teaching and of unpacking intricate, beautiful and challenging texts.

“He really is one of a kind, equivalent in capacity and talent to professors at much larger and more prestigious institutions. We are lucky to have him at MC.”

Miller was recently notified by AP program leaders that he will stay as chief reader for AP English Literature in 2020. He was first appointed to the post in 2017 after 17 years of service in leadership positions. He leads a cohort of nearly a thousand faculty from almost 900 colleges, universities and secondary schools.

“Professor Miller exemplifies Mississippi College’s academic excellence, high standards and enduring values through the highly visible leadership he provides annually,” said Terry Redican, vice president for AP Program delivery.

Miller works closely with college faculty and high school teachers each June to score AP English Literature exams. During his five-year term, he will have helped measure the English Literature proficiency and qualification for college placement of 2 million students worldwide.

Honors are nothing new for Miller. In 2013, Mississippi College colleagues selected him the Christian university’s Distinguished Professor of the Year.

Miller, a native Mississippian, said he is delighted to work at an institution “focused on teaching and service to others.”

Well-versed in both British and American literature, Miller graduated with honors from Nyack College in New York. He received his master’s and doctorate at Baylor University.

MC interim provost Debbie Norris said Miller’s selection “is a tremendous accomplishment for Dr. Miller and positively impacts Mississippi College’s reputation nationwide.”