Professor David E. Smith Receives the College's 2003 Teaching Excellence Award

Called forward by Dean George L. Kenyon to receive the 2003 Teaching Excellence Award at the commencement convocation on May 31, David E. Smith, professor and chair in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, looked out at the graduating PharmD students and remarked, tongue-in-cheek, “The good news is that after 22 years of teaching the pharmacokinetics course, I am beginning to see some improvement in my effectiveness as an educator. The bad news is that I plan on teaching this course for another 22 years.”

The Teaching Excellence Award was just one of the teaching honors bestowed on Smith during the 2002-2003 academic year. He was also one of three faculty members to receive the inaugural College of Pharmacy Student Appreciation Award, dispensed by PharmD students last winter term.

“I am delighted to receive both awards,” Smith notes. “As a faculty member, it’s gratifying when students show their appreciation for the effort that goes into teaching them material that is not easy to understand, or master. For beginning Pharmacy students, especially, the basic sciences seem steps removed from pharmacy practice. The fact is, they support every clinical concept. Students don’t always understand the importance of this notion until they are actually in a practice setting. That’s when all the pharmacokinetics and other basic science training come into play.

“Our job as faculty is not only to impart the necessary subject material required for a course but, more importantly, to teach problem-solving skills and a desire for lifelong learning,” Smith adds. “I take that responsibility seriously. I think every faculty member in our College feels the same way. In some colleges and universities, senior faculty members do not teach undergraduate or professional degree students. That’s not our educational model. That’s not the way it should be done.”