Professor Steve Smith arrived from Harvard in the winter of 1967 and served as philosophy department chair several times between 1973 and 1986. He was named associate professor of philosophy in 1975 and became a full professor in 1990.

It was Smith’s Theories of the Good Life class that became legendary during his tenure here. “I am grateful to CMC for many things,” Smith recently said, “including the freedom to teach courses of my own design that would not have been allowed at many institutions.”

His many other taught classes have included the history of philosophy, mysticism, human liberation, and men and masculinity. With professor emerita Meg Mathies, he developed a course in bioethics and in 1997 participated in an important panel discussion, CMC During the Transition Years.

Born in What Cheer, Iowa, Smith studied for a year at the Free University in West Berlin before enrolling in Earlham College, where he graduated in 1961 as a first honor student, with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and German. He then earned both his master’s degree and doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University, where he served as president of the Philosophical Club.

During his own years as a student, he won many academic honors and prestigious fellowships, including the Woodrow Wilson Graduate Fellowship and the Danforth Graduate Fellowship. At CMC, he was awarded the G. David Huntoon Senior Teaching Award in 1988.

Smith’s spouse, Pat Smith, also works for the College, as emergency planning and disaster preparedness coordinator in the Human Resources department. In past volunteer work outside of CMC, she once served as a volunteer mentor to troubled teens. Currently she is known on campus as a faculty sponsor of Athenas basketball, suuporting the team and coaches with motivational e-mail, thoughtful gifts, and even homemade dinners.

The couple has a home in Mt. Baldy.

Smith says that when he leaves CMC, "I will be moving at a slower pace, doing more writing, working with my faith community, traveling a bit more --- perhaps taking up a musical instrument. And each spring I will continue to teach one section of my course: Theories of the Good Life."

Professor Steve Smith, 1980.

"I am grateful to CMC for many things, including the freedom to teach courses of my own design that would not have been allowed at many institutions. I am even more grateful for my departmental colleagues, a wonderful and supportive bunch over the years. Most of all, I am grateful to my students, who have given me the greatest joys of my career by sharing their lives with me, inside and outside the classroom. I am indeed fortunate."

---Steve Smith

"I have known Steve Smith since 1970. He has been a dear friend and wonderful colleague all those years. Whole generations of CMC students and alums will remember him for his inspired teaching, his genuine compassion for all the people he knows, and his personal integrity. His Theories of the Good Life classes are already legendary in their impact on the lives of hundreds of CMC students."

Stephen Davis, professor of philosophy/religious studies

"For more than 35 years, Steve Smith has served CMC and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies with great distinction. An outstanding teacher, he created a legendary course, Theories of the Good Life, which has been a capstone educational and ethical experience for many generations of CMC students. His scholarship in philosophy has displayed a unique blending of Western and Asian influences that will long be remembered by his colleagues and students alike. Steve has given CMC a depth of soul, a sensitivity of spirit, that would be lacking without his thoughtful and caring presence."

Jonathan Roth, Edward J. Sexton Professor of Philosophy