During Lander University's spring commencement exercises, held on Tuesday, May 11, Baptist Collegiate Minister Scott Smith received an honorary degree from the university that he has called home for 36 years.
"Yours has been a life dedicated to enriching the lives of those around you," Lander Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Linda Dolny said to Smith during the announcement of the award.
"In your role as Baptist Collegiate Minister, you have acted as pastor, counselor, advocate, teacher and friend to thousands of individuals on the Lander campus and far beyond," Dolny said.
She said it was a "great privilege" to confer upon Smith the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.
It's not the first time that Lander has acknowledged its indebtedness to Smith. In 2008, he was awarded the Lander Medallion of Honor, reserved for members of the community who have dedicated their time, talents, energy and personal resources to improving Lander.
"Today, more than a decade later, you continue to serve as an inspiration to all those who seek to leave the world a better place than they found it," Dolny said.
A native of Pendleton, Smith was commissioned to the ministry by First Baptist Church of Pendleton in 1973. He earned a bachelor's degree from Furman University in 1977, and a master's degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1979. Before beginning work at Lander, on June 1, 1985, he served for four years as director of Baptist Campus Ministry at Baptist College, now Charleston Southern University, and also directed the Baptist Campus Ministry at The Citadel.
Along with his work at Lander, Smith has led several ambitious mission trips, including one to Boston, Mass., to work with AIDS patients, and another one to New Orleans, La., to help with relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
For 29 years after coming to Greenwood, he was assisted by his wife, Judy, who died in 2014.
"The students used to love watching how Judy and I reacted to each other," he told The Baptist Courier in 2017. "They loved Judy."
He was tested again by COVID-19. When campus closed in March 2020, the BCM responded by going virtual, meeting with students every Thursday to maintain contact and offer encouragement. When campus reopened last August, Smith and BCM Assistant Director Katie Troutmann began holding meetings and services outdoors in the parking lot. In the fall, they moved things back indoors, rearranging rooms for activities such as small group Bible studies to allow for social distancing.
According to Smith, students today have more serious problems than those of the past, with severe depression, feelings of disconnectedness and thoughts of suicide heading the list.
Today it's "so much different," he says.
He keeps in touch with students after they leave Lander, and they keep in touch with him. He has officiated in more than 130 weddings.
"I have participated with other ministers in a good many of these weddings. I have participated by doing vows, prayers and welcomes," he said.
A longtime member of South Main Street Baptist Church, Smith is the father of two Lander alumni - Cherry Lynne, who graduated in 2006, and Charles Thomas, who graduated two years later.
Smith first learned that he had been chosen to receive an honorary degree in March, when he was summoned to Lander President Richard Cosentino's office.
"I was shocked," he said. "Something like this never occurred to me, and frankly, I am not sure what I said. I just remember getting teary and trying to hold it together."
He said that he has "felt purpose and direction serving others at Lander. The relationships with students, faculty and staff, administrators, coaches, local churches and other ministers have been inspirational to me."
Lander, he said, has been "home and family and purpose."