Popular professor plans to retire
He started as an astronomy professor and became an expert on Indian cinema.
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Add This
Article RatingImages
T. Scott Smith(Courtesy Pierce Bounds)
Professor T. Scott Smith is shown here screening a film from India for his students at Dickinson College.(Courtesy Pierce Bounds)
Students who frequent Tome Scientific Building know Room 221 is special.
Vibrant posters adorn the doors and piles of books lean precariously against the walls. Idols of Indian gods, sporting cricket caps and colorful Mardi Gras beads, sit on the desk.
Often, strange hip-shaking beats emanate from within.
In a few months, however, the room will be bare. Room 221 is the lair of Dickinson College professor and Carlisle resident T. Scott Smith, who will retire after this semester.
Although Dickinson students best know Smith, 65, as a professor of Indian culture and films, he describes himself as “academically schizoid.”
He teaches both in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and in the comparative civilizations program at Dickinson. In fact, he says, he has team taught courses with professors in every major academic department except art and art history and international business and management.
Smith’s main area of interest is Indian cinema. Although he joined Dickinson as a professor of astronomy, his academic focus shifted to Indian culture and films in the 1980s.
Trip encouraged interest
He says his love affair with India started after his first trip in 1975.
“I went to India on a Rotary group study exchange program. I was interested in Indian culture before I left, but the trip was a life-changing experience.” Smith made subsequent trips in 1982, 1990, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
He was bitten by the film bug in 1982, while working as an astronomical consultant for an archaeology project in a small town called Hampi in South India. Smith says a guide from a nearby temple”invited me to go watch a movie with him, and I agreed. We went to a bus stop to take a bus to town, when I realized that the guide didn’t have a watch. I asked him when the bus would arrive, and he just shrugged. The bus came when it came.”
The duo went to watch a Hindi film called “Dhanwan,” featuring a popular Indian movie star. Smith noticed that the temple priest, a seemingly austere and religious man, was sitting two rows behind them.
“I soon realized the universal appeal of Indian films,” Smith says. The experience had him hooked.
The culture was a”perfect fit” for Smith, he says. He was overwhelmed by the warmth and hospitality shown by the people. Some of Smith’s fondest memories of India include being fed up to 11 meals a day and roaming the streets of Udaipur on a motorbike with a shop keeper he had just met.
A brush with fame
Smith claims to have been “wounded” by a famous film star called Shabana Azmi during one of his visits.
“She was the chief guest at the International Film Festival in the city of Kolkata. I was sitting in front of her, and as she was getting up, she unknowingly dug her fingernails into my shoulder. She did it again when she was leaving,” he says. The experience, he claims, “left a mark.”
In many ways, Dickinson was also a perfect fit for Smith. After graduating from Princeton University and obtaining his doctorate from the University of Maryland, he did a short stint at NASA.
“I soon realized that research wasn’t my thing and started applying to colleges around the country,” he says.
Eventually Smith decided on Dickinson and joined the college in 1969 as an assistant professor of physics and astronomy.
Although he has seen a lot of changes during his 37 years here, one thing, according to him, has more or less remained constant — “the freedom given to professors to develop courses on their own.” He particularly enjoys the flexibility available to him and appreciates the possibility of exploring new ideas and disciplines. On many occasions, he has collaborated with colleagues to team-teach courses.
Teaching for Smith, however, is “all about the students.” He considers learning a two-way process and enjoys engaging students in dialogue, encouraging them to come up with their own answers.
70s time for learning
The 1970s were one of the most enjoyable decades of his career, because students exhibited a “deeper interest in learning.” He liked that students didn’t pay too much attention to grades and the formal aspects of learning.
He gives the example of Jim Greenwood, ‘73, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who came to his house in the middle of the night to enquire about the “entropic death of the universe.” This conversation, of course, took place before Greenwood became a “practical politician,” Smith says.
Students have grown to love Smith’s personality, which they claim is as colorful as his office.
“He’s one of the most enthusiastic professors I know, “says Emma Andrews, a senior. “I love that his teaching style isn’t rigidly academic — he really knows how to mix fun with teaching.”
Rachel Barnett, another senior, says, “He encourages students to be creative and think out of the box.”
Abhishek Kedia, class of ‘07, says Smith is “especially passionate about mutual learning.”
Students complimentary
Students also admire the zeal he has for the subject. Joy Burnette, ‘09, says, “He is so engaged in the Indian culture that he truly brings it alive for his students. He delights in sharing personal stories about his experiences in India and must know every Bollywood actor, no matter how obscure.” Bollywood is a term used to describe the Hindi film industry in India.
Kristin Beach,’09, agrees. “He has this vast repertoire of knowledge and follows everything so closely. You can just feel his great love for India.”
Smith is considered a source of support and a friend, philosopher and guide. “He is a professor who nourishes his students like a parent,” Kedia says.
Andrews adds, “He tries really hard to familiarize students with Indian culture outside the classroom — he encouraged me to study abroad in India. I’ll always be grateful to him because it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.”
Linda Panicker, ‘09, a student of Indian origin, says Smith had a deep impact on her perception of herself.
“Since I was born and raised in Kenya, I never really had much exposure to Indian culture. After I came to Dickinson, Professor Smith helped me appreciate my roots and forge a connection with India,” she says. “In a way, he brought my own culture to me in the U.S.”
“It’s always interesting to see how students’ individual stories develop,” Smith says. He has had rebellious and wild students who go on to become”paragons of virtue and upholders of the law. “ He also has heartwarming memories of students who overcame academic difficulties through hard work to become very successful in their careers.
“I’ve even taught children of former students and seen former student teaching assistants become colleagues,” he adds.
Students say Smith will be greatly missed.
“He has exerted such a positive influence on campus. He has helped open students’ minds to the world and encouraged them to think critically,” Panicker says.
Beach believes he is irreplaceable.
“How often do you run into an Indophilic astronomer? How many can there be?” she says.
So what will life be like after Dickinson? Smith says, “I have to wait for my retirement to plan my retirement.”
He confesses that he will not miss grading papers and exams. However, he plans to keep in touch with the college and with students on a regular basis. True to Smith’s style, he adds, “I’ll really miss the free Internet.”
