There’s a certain warmth when Nancy Pace-Miller talks about Evangel University. You can hear it in her voice. You can feel it in the way she remembers.
She still calls herself a Crusader.
“I filled out all the surveys,” she said with a laugh. “I’m always going to be a Crusader.”
Pace-Miller’s connection to Evangel College goes back further than most. She first stepped on campus at just 14 years old. A visit turned into something bigger after meeting longtime professor Norma Champion in the TV studio.
“I knew right then,” she said. “That’s where I wanted to be.”
Not long after, she says she felt a clear calling. Not just to attend Evangel, but to work in ministry through the Assemblies of God. It stuck with her.
She arrived as a student in 1980. Graduated in 1984 with a degree in broadcasting and journalism. And then, just like she felt all those years earlier, she went straight into work with the Assemblies of God.
Her career took a few turns along the way. Advertising. Agency work. Even time overseas. Good work, she said. Work she enjoyed.
But something kept pulling her back.
Teaching.
It started small. An adjunct class here and there. Then more. Ten years went by like that. Eventually, a full-time spot opened up. She stepped in. And she never really left.
“That’s when I knew,” she said. “That was my calling.”
For Pace-Miller, the classroom wasn’t just about communication skills. It was bigger than that. She saw it as shaping people. Helping students find their voice, sure. But also helping them figure out who they are and what they stand for.
Over the years, she’s watched the communication world change fast. Really fast.
Print to digital. Radio to streaming. And now, artificial intelligence.
“It’s different,” she said. “You can’t be an expert at everything anymore.”
Still, she doesn’t see that as something to fear. Just something to learn.
Her advice is simple. Know a little about a lot. Then focus in when you need to.
And don’t lose sight of people.
“No matter what,” she said, “it still comes down to relationships.”
Ask her about her favorite memory, and she doesn’t hesitate. It’s not one moment. Not one class. Not one achievement.
It’s the people who taught her.
“We stand on the backs of those who came before us,” she said. “And we better never forget that.”
Now, she’s looking ahead to what she calls the “go-go years.” Time to travel. Time to explore. Time to enjoy life a little more.
She even compared it, with a smile, to a George Strait song.
Go here. Go there. See the world.
And then maybe come back home again.
