Ever since Professor of History and Southwest Studies Duane Smith accepted a teaching position at Fort Lewis College in 1964, he has brought more than textbooks and lesson plans to the students in his classes. Having published 38 books on the Four Corners region — not to mention countless academic papers and articles — Smith shares his first hand experience and research with the students in his classes.

The college will honor Smith at a reception in the Berndt Hall Foyer at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27. Light refreshments will be served, and the public is invited.

Duane Smith's "Baseball: The American Dream" class is one of the most popular on campus. The class final features a game of baseball played by 1800s rules. The pitcher for both "teams" in the final is Dr. Smith. In the game's early days, the batter could call the pitch he wanted — high or low — and the pitcher would deliver the exact pitch to the batter's specifications.

“I definitely believe my research and writing have made history come alive in the classroom as well as deepening my presentations,” Smith said.

In recognition of his 40 years of ongoing contributions to academia, Fort Lewis College will present Smith with the Featured Scholar Award for the Fall 2004 term.

“Dr. Duane Smith has had an illustrious 40-year teaching and scholarship career,” said Fort Lewis President Brad Bartel. “He is certainly the most renowned scholar at Fort Lewis College and across Colorado about local and regional history.”

“The Featured Scholar Award identifies faculty members whose commitment both to students and to the profession can be identified as extraordinary and worthy of emulation,” said Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Richard Sax.

Sax believes that scholarship can be defined as an original work which pushes forward the collective knowledge of the subject, which is based on scholarly research.

Smith’s dedication to the advancement of knowledge through scholarship goes beyond his ability to reach his academic audience. He believes wholeheartedly in his motto, “History is exciting and fun, teachers and writers are dull.”

Smith said his reason for research and writing is to enhance his ability to reach out to the public, either through his books, articles or talks.

“I believe and absolutely hope it (the work) is read by the public to ‘hook’ them to the joy and excitement of history,” Smith said. “Whether it is read by faculty members and colleagues is immaterial to me.”

In 1991, Smith published Sacred Trust: The Birth and Development of Fort Lewis College, which he dedicated to the college’s students. The book, as he describes it in his preface, is a brief sketch of the history of the college, what it came from and how it has evolved.

“His history of this institution, Sacred Trust, is in essence a gift to the current and future generations of Fort Lewis students, faculty, staff, and of course, all alumni,” Sax said.

Some of his most recent works are San Juan Gold, a revised version of Sacred Trust and A Visit with Tomboy Bride. Three books that have recently been accepted for publishing include The Rise of the Silver Queen: Georgetown, Colorado, 1859-1896, A Time for Peace: Fort Lewis, 1878-1891 and Women to the Rescue: The Creation of Mesa Verde National Park.

“Research and writing are exciting, fun, personally rewarding and enjoyable,” Smith said. “I can not ask for any more, or a better way to spend my time.”

Due to his scholarship, Smith is widely regarded as one of Colorado’s most knowledgeable historians. However, some of his popularity on campus comes by way of one of his most popular classes, “Baseball: The American Dream.” As a diehard Chicago Cubs fan, Smith created this innovative course, which features a game played with 1800s rules for the final.

While his accomplishments in the classroom are largely immeasurable, Smith is one of the most decorated professors in Colorado, winning the CASE Colorado Professor of the Year in 1990 — the first of four such awards for the Fort Lewis faculty. He was honored by the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities with the Outstanding Achievement Award in the Humanities in 1989. He has also received the 1987 Fred A. Rosenstock Award for outstanding contributions to Rocky Mountain and Western history.

He was chosen by his peers as the recipient of Fort Lewis’ Alice Admire Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1978, and has been a finalist for that honor numerous times. Smith received the Fort Lewis College Alumni Recognition Award at the school’s Annual Alumni Gathering in August 2000.

Since 1970, Smith has served as the faculty athletic representative at Fort Lewis. He has been a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame since 1994, and chaired that committee numerous times. He was inducted into the Fort Lewis Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 16, becoming just the fourth booster in school history to be inducted.

Aside from his teaching, scholarly and on-campus activities, Smith is also an involved member of the Durango community. Since 1976, he has given several lectures or informal talks per year to groups ranging from public school classes to service clubs to historical societies.

He has served on the Durango Parks and Forestry Advisory Board and the Western Preservation Board; was on the Save Our Smokestack Committee, which attempted to save a century-old smokestack from destruction during uranium mill tailings clean-up operations in the late 1980s; and spearheaded the drive by the Durango Clock and Bell Tower Committee to restore the old courthouse clock and bell tower when the existing building in downtown Durango was renovated.

Smith has been a member of both the Durango and Colorado Centennial commissions, served as a member of the Chamber of Commerce Executive Board from 1981-84, and is a past member of the Durango Hospitality Committee for the Durango Area Chamber Resort Association. He is also a charter board member of the La Plata County Historical Society; has been treasurer and board member of the La Plata County Humane Society; is chair of both the Durango Historic Preservation Committee; and is active in his church and the Democratic Party.

In 1995, DACRA chose Smith as its Citizen of the Year. He was also chosen as the 1999 Colorado Humanist of the Year.

“Dr. Smith has made a lifelong professional commitment to Fort Lewis College and its students,” said Sax. “His dedication to this institution and its mission is reflected in the work that he does both on-campus and in the community to raise interest in Colorado history, Colorado mining history, various.aspxects of popular culture — especially sports — and historical concerns of the Four Corners region.”

Smith has seen nearly a half century of change at Fort Lewis since he was hired in 1964. He said that over time, Fort Lewis become a much stronger and exciting place to teach. “The past was interesting, the present exciting, and the future unlimited,” he said. “After 40 years, I can not think of a better place to teach or one that has been more enjoyable.”

The Featured Scholar Award was established during the 1999-2000 academic year by former Fort Lewis President Kendall Blanchard. “Scholarship, defined in its broad and most inclusive sense, is vital to the academic integrity of Fort Lewis College,” Blanchard told the campus when announcing the first Featured Scholars in Jan. 2000. “It is important that our students and the larger community we serve recognize that being a member of the professional ranks at Fort Lewis College involves more than daily classroom performances. Our faculty members are actively engaged in the creation and application of knowledge as well as in its dispersal.”

Through the Winter 2002 semester, two Featured Scholars were selected. Starting in the 2002-03 academic year, one Featured Scholar was selected in the fall and another in the winter.

The complete list of Fort Lewis College’s Featured Scholars includes:

Author Stephanie Euwema is a junior English/communications major at Fort Lewis College and an intern in the Office of External Affairs.