Come Sept. 9, Saint Louis University will say goodbye to yet another faculty member: Duane Smith, Ph. D., director of the honors department. Smith will move to Pennsylvania to become the assistant vice provost for undergraduate studies at Temple University.
Smith has been at SLU for 14 years and has decided to leave for both a career promotion and personal reasons.
“I will be doing something similar to the kind of work I do, which is professionally a move up, but the move will also make things easier on my family,” Smith said.
In his new position, Smith will oversee the honors program, pre-professional health studies, pre-law program, scholarships and fellowships and research opportunities for undergraduates. The main difference for Smith, however, is that he will not be directly teaching students.
“There are both good and bad things about not having a teaching position. I have not had a break from teaching since I started in 1984, so I am sort of looking forward to it,” he said.
As for the honors program at SLU, the administration has yet to find an interim director, but Smith’s duties will be covered by various faculty members to help facilitate a smooth transition and accommodate Smith’s absence.
“[The administration] has asked me for my opinions on how things should go and they have sent out the announcement for interim honors director, but I would imagine that it will be a month or two before they decide on someone,” Smith said.
Smith was scheduled to teach classes for the fall semester, which have since been assigned to other teachers. Mark Clark will be teaching the Crossroads courses, while Fred Arroyo, Ph. D., will be teaching the English senior seminar that Smith planned to teach.
For those students looking to say goodbye to Dr. Smith, he will be available at the honors ice cream social, set for Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 2 p.m. at Notre Dame Hall.
“This [position] is a great opportunity for me, but I have had a really great experience here at SLU,” said Smith. “I will definitely miss the people the most.”
