Pam Olubunmi Smith retires from Goodrich Scholarship Program
- published: 2018/12/11
- contact: Patty Patton Shearer - Goodrich Scholarship Program
- phone: 402.554.2875
- email: ppshearer@unomaha.edu
- search keywords:
- CPACS
- Goodrich Scholarship Program
- Pam Smith
- Nebraska State Bar Association
Longtime professor Pamela Olubunmi Smith, Ph.D., will retire from the University of Nebraska at Omaha at the end of December 2018.
Her distinguished and storied career at UNO started in 1986, when she was hired by Donald Dendinger, Ph.D., then-chair of the Goodrich Scholarship Program, a merit-and-need-based scholarship program housed in the UNO College of Public Affairs and Community Service. Smith inspired and influenced thousands of students during her years at UNO, encouraging students to become strong thinkers and community influencers.
A celebration of Smith’s career took place on November 15. The celebration featured good food and good stories in abundance. The following evening, a Vesper and dinner for Smith were held. Many students showed up to share poignant stories about her influence on their lives. Alumni in attendance included Cynthia Robinson, Ph.D., chair of Black Studies; Angie Patton, IT coordinator for CPACS; Bart Vargas, artist; Destynie Sewell, J.D., assistant professor of business law and ethics in the College of Business Administration; Annette Crowder, manager for the Omaha Public School District, Mary Zeleny, Ph.D., lecturer in educational psychology at UNL; Dr. Lucy Woodard, Bellevue pediatrician; Anthony Turner, vocalist; and Troy Romero, Ph.D., associate professor in the Goodrich Scholarship Program. All shared heartfelt and heartwarming recollections about their time spent with Smith, with a common refrain being their deep appreciation for how much their writing improved through her guidance.
During her time in the Goodrich Scholarship Program at UNO, Smith was an internationally recognized expert in Yoruba literature. Her teaching was recognized with the 1994 UNO Excellence in Teaching Award. She was a key contributor to the overall excellence of the Goodrich Scholarship Program which was awarded the 1995 University-Wide Departmental Teaching Award from the University of Nebraska System, the 2001 Retention Excellence Award from the Noel-Levitz National Center for Student Retention, and the Nebraska State Bar Association 2016 Diversity Award. In her last full year with Goodrich, the Goodrich cohort achieved 100% freshman/sophomore retention, an historic accomplishment.
In addition to being a full-time, tenured professor with the Goodrich Scholarship Program, Smith was also a courtesy professor in the Department of English, through which she taught numerous seminars, including Melting Pot American Immigrant/Ethnic literatures and Black Women Writers in Africa, America and the African Diaspora. Her research interests, which she will continue to pursue following her retirement from UNO, include translations; Yoruba language and culture studies; women’s issues; and Francophone and Anglophone African Literatures.
For over three decades, Smith shaped the minds and lives of student, and her absence will be felt throughout UNO’s campus and community.
Her distinguished and storied career at UNO started in 1986, when she was hired by Donald Dendinger, Ph.D., then-chair of the Goodrich Scholarship Program, a merit-and-need-based scholarship program housed in the UNO College of Public Affairs and Community Service. Smith inspired and influenced thousands of students during her years at UNO, encouraging students to become strong thinkers and community influencers.
A celebration of Smith’s career took place on November 15. The celebration featured good food and good stories in abundance. The following evening, a Vesper and dinner for Smith were held. Many students showed up to share poignant stories about her influence on their lives. Alumni in attendance included Cynthia Robinson, Ph.D., chair of Black Studies; Angie Patton, IT coordinator for CPACS; Bart Vargas, artist; Destynie Sewell, J.D., assistant professor of business law and ethics in the College of Business Administration; Annette Crowder, manager for the Omaha Public School District, Mary Zeleny, Ph.D., lecturer in educational psychology at UNL; Dr. Lucy Woodard, Bellevue pediatrician; Anthony Turner, vocalist; and Troy Romero, Ph.D., associate professor in the Goodrich Scholarship Program. All shared heartfelt and heartwarming recollections about their time spent with Smith, with a common refrain being their deep appreciation for how much their writing improved through her guidance.
During her time in the Goodrich Scholarship Program at UNO, Smith was an internationally recognized expert in Yoruba literature. Her teaching was recognized with the 1994 UNO Excellence in Teaching Award. She was a key contributor to the overall excellence of the Goodrich Scholarship Program which was awarded the 1995 University-Wide Departmental Teaching Award from the University of Nebraska System, the 2001 Retention Excellence Award from the Noel-Levitz National Center for Student Retention, and the Nebraska State Bar Association 2016 Diversity Award. In her last full year with Goodrich, the Goodrich cohort achieved 100% freshman/sophomore retention, an historic accomplishment.
In addition to being a full-time, tenured professor with the Goodrich Scholarship Program, Smith was also a courtesy professor in the Department of English, through which she taught numerous seminars, including Melting Pot American Immigrant/Ethnic literatures and Black Women Writers in Africa, America and the African Diaspora. Her research interests, which she will continue to pursue following her retirement from UNO, include translations; Yoruba language and culture studies; women’s issues; and Francophone and Anglophone African Literatures.
For over three decades, Smith shaped the minds and lives of student, and her absence will be felt throughout UNO’s campus and community.