Doug Miller, a member of the Houston Chronicle editorial board and a longtime reporter and manager for KHOU-TV, has been appointed director of news and media relations in Rice University’s Office of Public Affairs, effective Aug. 8.
He succeeds B.J. Almond, who retired Aug. 3.
"Doug Miller's writing and editing skills and decades of experience in print and broadcast journalism will be valuable assets to our news and media relations team," said Vice President for Public Affairs Linda Thrane. "Doug knows Houston and his journalism experience and expertise will help us strengthen our efforts to share news about Rice University with the world."
Miller will oversee the team that issues news releases, expert alerts and media advisories, responds to media queries and produces Rice News, Dateline Rice and @Rice. He will also serve as a member of the Crisis Management Team and assist with emergency notifications to students, staff and faculty.
"Rice University is one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the nation, so I'm honored just walking onto the campus knowing I now belong here," Miller said. "After more than 30 years in the news business, I feel like I just grabbed a brass ring."
Miller joined the Chronicle's editorial board in 2016 and has served as a public policy adviser and writer covering positions and candidates endorsed by the newspaper. He has written editorials on local, state and national issues.
Prior to the Chronicle, he spent nearly 25 years at CBS affiliate KHOU, where he won four Emmys and two Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism. He served as a senior reporter, executive editor and chief of the Washington bureau between 1993 and 2016. He led a staff of 20 broadcast reporters and he specialized in politics and government reporting,
At KHOU, in addition to supervising political polling and election coverage, he organized partnerships with academic institutions and worked on political surveys with Rice political scientist Bob Stein. He also collaborated with Rice sociologist Stephen Klineberg to produce television reports based on the Kinder Houston Area Survey. Miller served as a panelist and organizer of live televised debates between candidates for U.S. president, Congress, Texas governor and Houston mayor. He covered the White House, Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court during his tenure as Washington bureau chief.
Miller's journalism experience also includes serving as managing editor of the Houston Business Journal from 1985 to 1993 and as a news reporter, news anchor and talk show host for KTRH-AM from 1980 to 1985. He has been a traffic reporter for Houston Traffic Central, a news anchor for KULF-AM in Houston and for KROD-AM in El Paso, Texas, and a talk show host for KISO-FM, also in El Paso.
Miller is a founding member of the Texas chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences..
A native of Fredericktown, Mo., Miller has a B.A. in history from the University of Houston. His interests include bird-watching, photography, bicycling and marathon running. He was the first Houstonian to appear on the syndicated version of "Jeopardy!" and won $16,000 during his three-day appearance on the game show in 1985.
(This post taken from a release sent to me by Rice University)
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