Memorial Service for Professor Emeritus of Education Joseph O. Milner

June 1, 2023

A service for professor of education emeritus Joseph O. Milner, who died May 27, will be held Saturday, June 3 at 11 a.m. in Wait Chapel.

In his 45 years as a Wake Forest professor, Milner trained hundreds of teachers. He chaired the education department from 1978 until 2006. For his years of service to English education on a national, state and local level, he received the North Carolina English Teachers Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Milner was the director of North Carolina Governor’s School from 1999-2003 and state director of the North Carolina Writing Project. He also served as director of the Advanced Placement Summer Institute for many years and held leadership positions with the National Council of Teachers of English.

For his contributions to the field of education in North Carolina, he received the state’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Milner is the author, co-author and co-editor of eight books and numerous articles on English education, children’s literature, aesthetics, linguistics and American literature. With his wife Lucy, he wrote the textbook “Bridging English.”

To honor Milner’s legacy of kindness to students and commitment to education, the family has set up the Dr. Joseph Milner Endowed Academic Excellence Fund at Wake Forest. A link to his obituary is available here.