Dr. Terry Smith shared highlights and lessons learned from his 30 years at Columbia College as the keynote speaker during the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Renewal Week 2026.
Addressing fellow faculty members in Bixby Lecture Hall, the esteemed Professor of Political Science and former Interim President reflected on his own educational and professional pathway, which led him to the College as Chief Academic Officer some three decades ago.
“We are in a special business, aren’t we?” Smith asked of his colleagues during his 40-minute lecture on Thursday, March 12. “Everyone is here by choice. Not just us faculty, but also our students. In the U.S. they have 4,000 options for higher education, and they chose us.”
Upon starting his administrative leadership role at the institution, Smith remembers getting the itch to teach. He taught an American Political Parties course during his lunch hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“My first year doing it was 2000, the year the Supreme Court decided the election. I couldn’t wait to do it again – not have the Supreme Court decide an election, but teach the class,” he said, eliciting laughter from the audience.
The veteran educator served as Interim President for the College in 2013-14 after the retirement of 16th President Dr. Gerald Brouder. In 2015, Smith returned to his roots of full-time teaching, and he has remained in that capacity ever since.
Smith described to his peers a strategy for the first day of classes over the years.
“One of the first things I say to students is, ‘I want you to be successful. Right now, you have all your points. We’ll work together to keep as many of them as possible. It would be the crowning achievement of my teaching career if all of you earned an A.’”
During his presentation, he recounted several meaningful stories about students who expressed their appreciation for what they learned at CC.
A few years ago, Smith was the faculty of record for an Honors Program service project. His student, a Biology major, partnered with Special Olympics and coached adults with special needs.
“When we met at the end of the semester to discuss her experience, she said, ‘I plan to be a physical therapist. I will be a much better physical therapist because I worked with these special needs adults.’ Then she said the phrase we love to hear: ‘It changed my life.’
“I was grateful to be present for that.”
“As teachers in higher ed we rarely get to sit under the trees we plant. And much of the time we don’t even know that our trees have successfully taken root. So when we get direct feedback that shows that our academic arboring has been successful, it is gratifying.”
Dr. Terry Smith, Professor of Political Science
Another example was a student who took American Government with Smith last semester who recently told him she had used an assigned paper from the class in her application for an internship with the Missouri Department of Agriculture, and the department told her the paper had helped her secure the internship.
Each faculty member can tell similar stories, Smith said.
“As teachers in higher ed we rarely get to sit under the trees we plant,” he said. “And much of the time we don’t even know that our trees have successfully taken root. So when we get direct feedback that shows that our academic arboring has been successful, it is gratifying.”
Smith told the audience that teaching at Columbia College is the capstone of his professional life, adding that he is honored to be called “your colleague and your fellow learner.”
He tied a bow on his message with a guiding principle that has defined his 30 years at this 175-year-old institution.
“Maybe the goal of a liberal arts and sciences education,” Smith said, “is simply for us all to love each other, and to love each other because we are all children of God.”
