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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tim Smith to retire at Kent State on June 1

Timothy D. Smith, professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kent State University, is retiring June 1. Smith joined Kent State University in 1986 after working for 19 years for the Akron Beacon Journal, leaving as managing editor. He has also worked for the Columbus Dispatch, the Painesville Telegraph and United Press International.

Smith, however, plans to continue working part-time after a hiatus of a couple of months.

Smith  has a bachelor’s degree and master’s in journalism from Ohio State University and a law degree from the University of Akron. In
1991, while on leave from the university, Smith served as a law clerk for now-retired Ohio Supreme Court Justice Craig Wright. In June 1991, he was named acting director of the School, a post he held until June 1994, when he returned to the faculty and resumed his service as adviser to the Daily Kent Stater, the student newspaper.

In addition to his teaching duties, Smith served as a newspaper consultant, an expert witness in media law cases and as a lecturer on media relations, libel, invasion of privacy and public records issues.

“I’ve enjoyed work here immensely,” said Smith. “It’s been a great place to work.  I like the people I work with.”

In 1996, Smith  received the John S. Knight Award for excellence in the service of journalism by the Buckeye Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. In 1997, he was selected as a Fellow of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Journalism Excellence program, a summer newspaper residency for journalism professors. In 2000, he was presented with the Distinguished Teaching Award by Kent State University Alumni Association. In the fall of 2003, Smith took a professional leave to work in the Portage County Public Defender’s office, representing indigent clients in municipal and common pleas courts.

He is a member of the American and Ohio State bar associations and a founding member of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Media Law Committee of the state bar. In 1991, he created the Ohio Center for Privacy and the First Amendment at Kent State. In 2007, the name was changed to the Media Law Center for Ethics and Access with Prof. Jan Leach as the director and Smith as the chair.

Smith and his wife, Jane, a  teacher of gifted children, have three grown children.  Jane (Andrews) Smith retired in 2010 afer 20 some years as a teacher at Litchfield Middle School.

Their  oldest son, Randall, is a NASA scientist employed as an astro physicist for Harvard Smithsonian Astro Physics Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. He and his wife Lauren, live in Boston

Daughter Rachel is a school teacher in Hiliard teaching gifted students.  She and her husband, James     Nelli, a computer programmer, live in Columbus and have two children, Dashiel, 5, and Sophia, 3.

Youngest son Brian, is director of planning for the  Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority. Brian, who like his father has a law degree from the University of Akron, is currently involved in developing the $20 million bus terminal in downtown Ken. He and wife, Wendy, a nurse at Robinson Memorial Hospital, have two children, Zebediah, 8, and Eliza, six months.
       

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