Smith is far from a conventional instructor
JENNIFER PEARSON
Issue date: 11/16/09 Section: Around Campus
Smith encountered more than mere governmental hostility in his European vacation. Coincidentally, Smith's stay at Greece also occurred during the Chernobyl explosion. "There was a cloud of radioactive gas that was floating across Europe at the time, and that cloud eventually flew over Greece. I remember being out in a field, and I was eating a lot of plums and grapes that a farmer had let me have access to. Then some Americans drove by and said, "Don't eat the fruit, because the Chernobyl cloud just recently passed through!" So I said, "Oh OK, now you tell me!"
Smith returned to Texas and finished his PhD in English at the University of North Texas in Denton, all the while still teaching undergraduate courses in the University of North Texas (Denton) and in Eastfield Community College. Afterwards, he took his skills and well groomed resume and taught at a buffet of colleges around Texas, including Pan American University, Lamar University, and West Texas A&M.
In the fall of 1997, Smith began his first year of teaching full-time at San Jacinto College, and was immediately impressed by both the freedom he was given in promoting creativity and the diverse student body he was able to work with. "The appeal for me is the emphasis on teaching rather than publishing. It's publish or perish in a four-year university. But here I don't have to have that pressure to publish, so I can spend more time in the classroom and spend more time conferencing with students. My forte is not research. My forte is teaching. And that is the beauty of a community college job. You can truly focus on teaching."
The interview soon shifted to numerous accounts of some of his successful students, some of which he backed up with various articles and fictional work they had written. One intriguing story included a former student who, after bumping her head in a bicycle accident, suddenly began to write uncontrollably, even to the point where she developed carpal tunnel syndrome. Before even coming to Smith's class, she had already written six to seven full-length manuscripts.
Smith returned to Texas and finished his PhD in English at the University of North Texas in Denton, all the while still teaching undergraduate courses in the University of North Texas (Denton) and in Eastfield Community College. Afterwards, he took his skills and well groomed resume and taught at a buffet of colleges around Texas, including Pan American University, Lamar University, and West Texas A&M.
In the fall of 1997, Smith began his first year of teaching full-time at San Jacinto College, and was immediately impressed by both the freedom he was given in promoting creativity and the diverse student body he was able to work with. "The appeal for me is the emphasis on teaching rather than publishing. It's publish or perish in a four-year university. But here I don't have to have that pressure to publish, so I can spend more time in the classroom and spend more time conferencing with students. My forte is not research. My forte is teaching. And that is the beauty of a community college job. You can truly focus on teaching."
The interview soon shifted to numerous accounts of some of his successful students, some of which he backed up with various articles and fictional work they had written. One intriguing story included a former student who, after bumping her head in a bicycle accident, suddenly began to write uncontrollably, even to the point where she developed carpal tunnel syndrome. Before even coming to Smith's class, she had already written six to seven full-length manuscripts.
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