file photo/Arizona Daily Wildcat Former journalism professor and Wildcat adviser Sherman R. Miller 3rd reviews a student's article in this undated file photo. The Wildcat newsroom will be dedicated today for the hard-nosed but respected journalist, who died unexpectedly in 1968 while teaching abroad.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat will dedicate its newsroom today to Sherman R. Miller 3rd, a former journalism professor and former Wildcat adviser.

Melissa Miller Murphy, Miller's daughter, said Miller's family and friends decided to donate $25,000 to the Wildcat in order to create a lasting tribute to their father.

"(The Daily Wildcat) was his life, and his students were a part of our family," said Melissa. "He provided the leadership to turn the Wildcat, a sleepy, small-town college paper, to a nationally recognized daily student newspaper that won awards ... across the country."

Miller, who worked at The New York Times for 10 years before becoming the Wildcat's adviser, died unexpectedly in 1968 while teaching abroad on a Fulbright scholarship.

Edith Auslander, senior associate to President Peter Likins, said Miller asked for the best from his students.

"He had very high standards for writing. He was very demanding, and I think helped us be better journalists," said Auslander, who is a member of the Wildcat Hall of Fame.

Nann Novinski Durando, a Wildcat alumna, said she remembers Miller as the cigarette-smoking, tie-askew, stern-faced man with an unnerving squint who challenged and guided his students with strong, invisible hands.

"You knew the hand was ever-present. But it did not threaten or restrain; it guided and taught," she said. "It held a beacon, not a club."

During Miller's lifetime, two major events happened at the Wildcat: the paper turned into a daily and eventually became independent of the journalism department.

"It was his vision and determination that took it from a three-days-a-week publication to five days a week," Durando said. "He celebrated when the word 'daily' made its first appearance at the top of the front page next to 'Wildcat.'"

But Durando said as an adviser for the Wildcat and head of the journalism department, Miller was reluctant to have the two separate.

Avery Keener Econome, a Wildcat alumna, remembered working late into the night to meet deadlines.

"Those were pre-computer years. We wrote stories on clackety manual typewriters, " she said. "We drank gallons of coffee. We laughed, we complained. We honed a healthy cynicism along with pretty good interviewing and writing skills."

Econome, who thinks it is appropriate the newsroom be named after Miller, said she appreciates what Miller did for her.

"Sherman Miller was a master mentor, inspiring teacher, a fun and loyal friend," Econome said.

As a journalism professor, Miller was a stickler for accuracy, said Wildcat alumna Barbara Shumway.

"The best story would get an 'F' for a misspelled name, and there were no excuses," she said.

But despite the challenges, Auslander said students strived to impress Miller.

"We worked very hard to please Sherman Miller because we were very admiring of him," she said.

Sidney Coffin Lippman, a Wildcat alumna, who said she stumbled into the journalism major and found Miller, recalled how receiving "A"s in Miller's class was nearly impossible.

"Day after day and week after week, my writing and reporting were found wanting," she said.

Then one day, Miller held up her story in class and said it was perfect.

"That was it," she said. "I was hooked on journalism, which I have now been working at for nearly 40 years."

Lippman said Miller made her strive to meet his standards and not be satisfied until she had.

Students in one of Miller's classes, Community Newspapers, composed a poem, "Ode to Sherm," for him at their last party in Willcox to illustrate their appreciation of his dedication and hard work.

"Willcox town has been romance," the poem goes. "Our hearts will stay in this expanse/We'd like to take this one last chance/ To thank our S-H-E-R-M, our Sherm."

Miller was named an outstanding male faculty of the university in 1964, and Esquire Magazine named him one of 33 "super-profs" around the country in 1966.

The newsroom dedication will be held at noon today. Miller's children and former students will come to the dedication and stay for a luncheon.