Short Bio

I’ve circled back to Texas, after being born there in 1954. My father (Barney Smith, Jr.) was just finishing up his law degree at the University of Texas at the time; I’m told I was born a short distance from the capitol building in Austin. Before I turned two, we moved to Beaumont, Texas, long enough for my brother, Doug, to be born, and then on to Houston where my dad took a teaching position at the University of Houston.

In Houston, my sister Diana was born when I was seven. When I was 13, my father moved our family to Macomb, Illinois, as Western Illinois University opened its Business School. I attended Edison Junior High for two years (8th and 9th grade) and Macomb Senior High, graduating in 1972. I played clarinet and baseball. I was good at math. Meanwhile, my father was a full professor in the Accounting Department and my mother, Virginia, was an instructor in that department.

I became a Christian at the age of 15, finally understanding the meaning of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. The most memorable event to me, when it all came together, was at a Billy Graham film, The Restless Ones. (Yes, Billy Graham.) Living in America, my family had been church-attenders for some time; now I wanted to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus. (I still seek to be a follower of Jesus.)

Looking back on this time, I am convinced that a significant influence in my decision to follow Jesus was my love of science. The universe is an incredible place, complex, logical, deeply structured. I wanted to know the Creator of all this beauty.

In 1973 I enrolled back at Western Illinois in Macomb, majoring in Mathematics. I became involved in a student group, Campus Crusade for Christ, and there I met a young finance major, Janet Schug. We began to date in spring 1974. I graduated from WIU in 1975 and received an assistantship to attend the University of Illinois ($4000 + tuition waiver!) By then, Jan was my parents’ best student and she and I were discussing marriage. We were engaged in September 1975.

“No straight lines make up my life and all my roads have bends. There’s no clear-cut beginnings and so far no dead-ends”

All My Life’s A Circle

Harry Chapin

My first year at the U of I was a disaster. I commuted to Macomb every weekend (to see Jan, not Mom & Dad!) and I had a hard time adjusting to the strenuous graduate school life. I got C’s in all my classes. In June 1976, Jan and I were married. We honeymooned in Arrowhead Springs, California before moving into married student housing (Orchard Place) in Urbana.

Married, my studies improved, enough for me to get an MS degree, but I failed Ph.D. qualifying exams. I spent a year as a temporary instructor at nearby Millikin University before finally applying to graduate studies at Colorado State University. Jan and I moved to Fort Collins in May 1980, just as Mt. Saint Helens erupted. We got fine ash on our new VW Rabbit, as we drove across Nebraska.

At CSU, suddenly I was a mathematician. My grades were good; I developed a new confidence and found most doctoral level courses relatively easy (mathematics was “natural”.) My rough times -- and belated hard work -- at the U of I were beginning to pay off! After passing qualifying exams (I got a “conditional pass” in Analysis!) I began to seek out a thesis advisor. I discovered that everyone but me expected me to work with Robert Liebler. Initially, I found Bob intimidating and uncomfortable to work with -- until I realized that he really wanted me to succeed as a mathematics and that (as long as I gave up on my ego) I would learn a LOT from Bob. I worked with Bob as a student for three years and then for the next 20 years as collaborator and friend.

As I began to write my dissertation, Jan gave birth to our first son, Alex, in December 1983, at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins. (Yes, Alex is a Colorado “native”!) Without my dissertation in hand, I took a position at Central Michigan University in August 1984. Jan and I bought a house on Pine Street in Mt. Pleasant and I walked to campus everyday. I taught a class in Abstract Algebra and organized my lectures as I walked down Washington Street to Pearce Hall.

In the evenings I typed out my dissertation on the brand new Macintosh computer while Alex bounced around on the couch. How desperately I wanted to be done with that dissertation so I could spend time with him!

In March 1985 we flew to Colorado for Diana’s wedding and my dissertation defense. There was still snow on the ground on March 7 as we left Saginaw but Colorado was beautiful. By the end of the trip I was (unofficially, at least) Dr. Smith. And Diana was Diana Nixon.

And the years went by. Tim was born in 1987, during a semester when I taught a 3-hour group theory class on Monday nights. In 1990 we all moved to Maryland (Waugh Chapel Road, Gambrills) so that I could spend 12 months at the National Security Agency, working with John Dillon, Dick Stafford, and others.

In 1994, Daniel was born. For two years (1995-7), I was an administrator, working in the provost’s office and directing the Office of Institutional Research at CMU, before moving back to the math department and the math classroom. Central Michigan developed a doctoral program in mathematics and I eventually directed four doctoral dissertations. (I’ve had the privilege of directing Paul Becker, Omar AbuGhneim, Solomon Osifodunrin and Jordan Webster.)

For four years in Mt. Pleasant, Jan and I were involved in a Baptist church. We left that church in 1988 to begin attending Mt. Pleasant Community Church. We eventually became quite active at MPCC, leading small groups and adult Sunday School classes. Across 20 years we appreciated the ministries of pastors Bill Lindner and Scott McKee. I was an ordained elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church for about ten years; Jan served on the Board of Trustees. We have many good friends there today.

In 2005, Alex married Sierra Blumberg. Alex and Sierra live in Lansing.

In July 2007, my father died in Macomb, Illinois.

In March 2007, I accepted the chair position in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. (I had been occasionally interviewing for chair positions since stepping down from my administrative position in 1997.) In August, Jan, Daniel and I moved to hot Texas, to begin a new life. Two months later, my mother, Virginia, followed us to Huntsville.

During the summer of 2008, due to internal politics in the university, I stepped down from the chair position. I am currently a full professor at Sam Houston, continuing to direct research, especially undergraduate research.

Daniel plays soccer and computer games. I occasionally referee adult soccer. I play correspondence chess (online.) Jan and I have joined Elkins Lake Baptist Church and are active in the Adult One Sunday School class there. Jan is treasurer for Good Shepherd Mission in Huntsville.

Photos of family and special events are on our photo webpage.

Last modified January 2, 2010.

I received a clarinet scholarship to Western Illinois but turned that down to attend Moody Bible Institute. I spent twelve months at MBI, majoring first in Evangelism, and then in Communications-Writing. I learned a lot at MBI; one of the many things I learned was that Moody was not for me; that I was not called to be a pastor but to be a mathematician and -- eventually -- a university professor at a secular university.