Devoted Academics by Robert V. Smith, PhD 

Article from The Anne Stories Spring, 2022 

Dr. Robert V. Smith 
Registry Senior Consultant
Author of Devoted Academics

An Interview with Author Dr. Robert V. Smith 

Interview with Dr. Robert “Bob” V. Smith ~ Dr. Bob Smith currently serves as a Registry Senior Consultant and previously served for 45 years in faculty and senior administrative positions in six U.S. research universities. In this interview, Bob addresses why he wrote his new book (Modern Messages from Green Gables on Loving, Living and Learning: The Anne Stories), and what messages it might have for 21st century citizens and particularly Registry Members serving as interim senior administrators. 

At this stage in your career, as a Member and Senior Consultant of The Registry, what motivated you to write this book? 

I have had a life-long fascination with how many people have read and been inspired by the Anne novels. The result is this book. Work began with study of the eight Anne books along with related essays and monographs leading to a set of Chronological Summaries with Notes and Quotes. Studies of the life of the Anne author, Lucy Maud Montgomery (LMM), resulted in a Chronological Biography of LMM with Corollaries to the Anne Books. To affect an engaging synthesis of the novels and LMM’s life, I crafted the idea of having the revivified main character of the books, Anne Shirley, tell her own life story (Part I of the text related to loving).  This is followed by revivified Anne and her physician husband, Gilbert Blythe, recounting the life of LMM (Part II of the text related to living and learning). Thereafter, Anne and Gilbert comment on the relevance of the Anne books and the life of its author to 21st Century readers. 

For our readers who may be unfamiliar with author Lucy Maud Montgomery and her titular character Anne Shirley, what recurring themes did you encounter in the Anne books that are applicable to our present times? 

Many people resonate to the title, Anne of Green Gables. If they haven’t read the original book, they may have seen one of films based on the story of the orphan girl whose gifts of imagination, intuition, and spunk helped her overcome obstacles and find love and happiness in the world. In many ways, the “Anne stories” reflect the extraordinary life and times of their author. Akin to Anne, LMM was functionally an orphan, with a mother dying when she was only 21 months old and her father leaving her in the care of maternal grandparents while he sought new vistas for jobs and personal fulfillment. LMM faced many challenges early on, especially with aging grandparents who were not thrilled by the prospects of raising an “unwanted child.” LMM’s life in adolescence and beyond would be compounded by conflicted romances, bouts of depression and related maladies, difficulties raising her two sons, and a long-term marriage fraught by emotional ambiguity, anxiety, and anguish brought on by a chronically depressed and otherwise psychologically challenged spouse. Stepping back, we can imagine how LMM might have responded by acting as though there was nothing she could do and just let “fate take over.” Fortunately, LMM crafted an approach to life and its challenges by blending her creative talents with acquired strengths and steadfastness. Thus, we find in her resilience, an introspective orientation, a love of reading particularly in the humanities, goal orientation, time management skills, and a cultivation of creativity. We also see how LMM was able to integrate her talents, skills, and interests into a personality that had legendary attraction to people across the global socioeconomic spectrum. In other words, she embodied a combination of graciousness, intuition, and gravitas that supported all aspects of her creative and day-to-day life. 

In your book, you highlight several messages conveyed by the narrators on Loving, Living, and Learning. What lessons might a Registry member take away from three of the most important messages that would be applicable to their work as an interim senior administrator?  

Through Anne’s life story we learn of her convictions that “most of the trouble in life comes from misunderstanding” and unappreciation of eccentricities in others. Successful Registry interims know the value of institutional study and listening to constituents in tackling challenges (e.g., restructuring) and honoring faculty shared governance. In parallel, LMM’s love of history helped her become ahead of her time as a feminist and advocate for women’s roles in society, in addition to her abhorrence of authoritarianism and bigotry. These values are clearly in tune with clients’ expectations of Registry interims. 

BOOK REVIEWS

Richard Sax
Registry Member

Devoted Academics Review

Dr. Robert Smith’s academic memoir, Devoted Academics, provides a charming narrative of his academic journey. Technically, it can be considered a graphic novel, since Dusty Higgins has created some very visual and at times funny sketches about the people and issues being discussed.  I have appreciated Dr. Smith’s sensitivity and attention to detail in the Registry Interim appointments which he has curated for me, and the same attention to detail informs this text.  There is also much wisdom here for all audiences, such as when he notes a 1999 honorary doctorate given to historian David McCullough who “cautioned that learning is not wisdom, the latter only coming from turning what you learn into kindness and ethical service to others” (p. 263).  

I especially enjoyed Dr. Smith’s sojourn in Ann Arbor, since my own narrative includes both MA and PhD degrees in English from Michigan, and Graduate Dean John D’Arms (referenced on p. 200) was a mentor to myself as well and awarded me with an Outstanding Teaching award in 1986 for my four years teaching there in the Department of English Language & Literature, 1982-6.  

There is much wisdom in this memoir that should be of great use to current and future academic administrators: Where You Stand is Where You Sit (p. 310); New academic leaders need to hit the ground running and listening, and when parachuting into a new academic position, leaders need the support of associates (p. 312).  As well, given his long friendship with coach and athletic director Frank Broyles, Smith nicely uses sports jargon to coin the term, “academic triple threat” (p. 304), for colleagues who are truly exemplary in all three areas commonly organized for annual reviews, promotion & tenure: teaching, scholarship, service.  We all seek such “academic triple threats”! 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Anny Morrobel-Sosa 
Registry Member

A Synopsis of Devoted Academics: Ethical Responsibilities and Service in University Leadership  

In Devoted Academics: Ethical Responsibilities and Service in University Leadership, Robert V. Smith’s latest book published in 2022, we are transported into a very intimate and comprehensive look at the personal life and professional development of a an accomplished academic and leader in service to higher education for almost 50 years. 

Written in five chronological segments, this accomplished academic, and member of the so-called silent generation guides us through his earliest experiences as a child and adolescent in a tightly knit, working class, Catholic family from Glendale, Queens and Patchogue, Long Island NY.  So descriptive is the depiction of his family and their first-time experiences with neighbors of different ethnic backgrounds, that you are transported to those times to see the forging of the character and personal values that would later help define many actions he took in his professional life. Some accounts during his life seem to be full-circle events, like the school colors and nick names of his high school in Patchogue and his last administrative post at Texas Tech University. 

The author’s young adult and college years are full of friends and mentors and how they helped him through some academic struggles during graduate school, and they would also be marked by two significant events: the tragic death of his father and his wedding.  These were quickly followed by his first faculty appointment at the University of Iowa and deferment from being drafted for the Vietnam War in 1968. 

Success in teaching, research and grant activities led him to the first of several transitions common to many faculty members – the vagabond life of academics – traveling nationally and internationally to multiple conferences to present talks on the latest accomplishments, participate in workshops and sometimes teach for short terms.  But success sometimes also comes with an eagerness for new challenges; thus, administrative positions soon followed, which also meant geographical moves.  And then there are moves that are taken due to a change in leadership above your own position, and you realize that you do work “at the pleasure of”.  These changes also take a toll on family relationships and illnesses about which the author is quite candid. 

Nevertheless, throughout these difficult times, the author maintains a perceptive and unpretentious sense of humor and begins to collect his multiple speeches and presentations resulting in several books on higher education administration, each of which seeks to help new administrators learn how to navigate positions, roles and responsibilities. 

Devoted Academics is intertwined with many personal accounts and the reader is steered through the triumphs and struggles of academic life, leadership and a personal life story that reveal the perseverance, empathy and humanity of a life well-lived.  Even in “retirement” and after personal changes and significant health challenges, the author continues to focus his attention to supporting the next generation of academic leaders and to the strengthening of higher education through his work with The Registry, an undertaking for which we are all very grateful. 

Devoted Academics by Robert V. Smith, PhD 

Article from The Anne Stories Spring, 2022 

Dr. Robert V. Smith 
Registry Senior Consultant
Author of Devoted Academics

An Interview with Author Dr. Robert V. Smith 

Interview with Dr. Robert “Bob” V. Smith ~ Dr. Bob Smith currently serves as a Registry Senior Consultant and previously served for 45 years in faculty and senior administrative positions in six U.S. research universities. In this interview, Bob addresses why he wrote his new book (Modern Messages from Green Gables on Loving, Living and Learning: The Anne Stories), and what messages it might have for 21st century citizens and particularly Registry Members serving as interim senior administrators. 

At this stage in your career, as a Member and Senior Consultant of The Registry, what motivated you to write this book? 

I have had a life-long fascination with how many people have read and been inspired by the Anne novels. The result is this book. Work began with study of the eight Anne books along with related essays and monographs leading to a set of Chronological Summaries with Notes and Quotes. Studies of the life of the Anne author, Lucy Maud Montgomery (LMM), resulted in a Chronological Biography of LMM with Corollaries to the Anne Books. To affect an engaging synthesis of the novels and LMM’s life, I crafted the idea of having the revivified main character of the books, Anne Shirley, tell her own life story (Part I of the text related to loving).  This is followed by revivified Anne and her physician husband, Gilbert Blythe, recounting the life of LMM (Part II of the text related to living and learning). Thereafter, Anne and Gilbert comment on the relevance of the Anne books and the life of its author to 21st Century readers. 

For our readers who may be unfamiliar with author Lucy Maud Montgomery and her titular character Anne Shirley, what recurring themes did you encounter in the Anne books that are applicable to our present times? 

Many people resonate to the title, Anne of Green Gables. If they haven’t read the original book, they may have seen one of films based on the story of the orphan girl whose gifts of imagination, intuition, and spunk helped her overcome obstacles and find love and happiness in the world. In many ways, the “Anne stories” reflect the extraordinary life and times of their author. Akin to Anne, LMM was functionally an orphan, with a mother dying when she was only 21 months old and her father leaving her in the care of maternal grandparents while he sought new vistas for jobs and personal fulfillment. LMM faced many challenges early on, especially with aging grandparents who were not thrilled by the prospects of raising an “unwanted child.” LMM’s life in adolescence and beyond would be compounded by conflicted romances, bouts of depression and related maladies, difficulties raising her two sons, and a long-term marriage fraught by emotional ambiguity, anxiety, and anguish brought on by a chronically depressed and otherwise psychologically challenged spouse. Stepping back, we can imagine how LMM might have responded by acting as though there was nothing she could do and just let “fate take over.” Fortunately, LMM crafted an approach to life and its challenges by blending her creative talents with acquired strengths and steadfastness. Thus, we find in her resilience, an introspective orientation, a love of reading particularly in the humanities, goal orientation, time management skills, and a cultivation of creativity. We also see how LMM was able to integrate her talents, skills, and interests into a personality that had legendary attraction to people across the global socioeconomic spectrum. In other words, she embodied a combination of graciousness, intuition, and gravitas that supported all aspects of her creative and day-to-day life. 

In your book, you highlight several messages conveyed by the narrators on Loving, Living, and Learning. What lessons might a Registry member take away from three of the most important messages that would be applicable to their work as an interim senior administrator?  

Through Anne’s life story we learn of her convictions that “most of the trouble in life comes from misunderstanding” and unappreciation of eccentricities in others. Successful Registry interims know the value of institutional study and listening to constituents in tackling challenges (e.g., restructuring) and honoring faculty shared governance. In parallel, LMM’s love of history helped her become ahead of her time as a feminist and advocate for women’s roles in society, in addition to her abhorrence of authoritarianism and bigotry. These values are clearly in tune with clients’ expectations of Registry interims. 

BOOK REVIEWS

Richard Sax
Registry Member

Devoted Academics Review

Dr. Robert Smith’s academic memoir, Devoted Academics, provides a charming narrative of his academic journey. Technically, it can be considered a graphic novel, since Dusty Higgins has created some very visual and at times funny sketches about the people and issues being discussed.  I have appreciated Dr. Smith’s sensitivity and attention to detail in the Registry Interim appointments which he has curated for me, and the same attention to detail informs this text.  There is also much wisdom here for all audiences, such as when he notes a 1999 honorary doctorate given to historian David McCullough who “cautioned that learning is not wisdom, the latter only coming from turning what you learn into kindness and ethical service to others” (p. 263).  

I especially enjoyed Dr. Smith’s sojourn in Ann Arbor, since my own narrative includes both MA and PhD degrees in English from Michigan, and Graduate Dean John D’Arms (referenced on p. 200) was a mentor to myself as well and awarded me with an Outstanding Teaching award in 1986 for my four years teaching there in the Department of English Language & Literature, 1982-6.  

There is much wisdom in this memoir that should be of great use to current and future academic administrators: Where You Stand is Where You Sit (p. 310); New academic leaders need to hit the ground running and listening, and when parachuting into a new academic position, leaders need the support of associates (p. 312).  As well, given his long friendship with coach and athletic director Frank Broyles, Smith nicely uses sports jargon to coin the term, “academic triple threat” (p. 304), for colleagues who are truly exemplary in all three areas commonly organized for annual reviews, promotion & tenure: teaching, scholarship, service.  We all seek such “academic triple threats”! 

Dr. Anny Morrobel-Sosa 
Registry Member

A Synopsis of Devoted Academics: Ethical Responsibilities and Service in University Leadership  

In Devoted Academics: Ethical Responsibilities and Service in University Leadership, Robert V. Smith’s latest book published in 2022, we are transported into a very intimate and comprehensive look at the personal life and professional development of a an accomplished academic and leader in service to higher education for almost 50 years. 

Written in five chronological segments, this accomplished academic, and member of the so-called silent generation guides us through his earliest experiences as a child and adolescent in a tightly knit, working class, Catholic family from Glendale, Queens and Patchogue, Long Island NY.  So descriptive is the depiction of his family and their first-time experiences with neighbors of different ethnic backgrounds, that you are transported to those times to see the forging of the character and personal values that would later help define many actions he took in his professional life. Some accounts during his life seem to be full-circle events, like the school colors and nick names of his high school in Patchogue and his last administrative post at Texas Tech University. 

The author’s young adult and college years are full of friends and mentors and how they helped him through some academic struggles during graduate school, and they would also be marked by two significant events: the tragic death of his father and his wedding.  These were quickly followed by his first faculty appointment at the University of Iowa and deferment from being drafted for the Vietnam War in 1968. 

Success in teaching, research and grant activities led him to the first of several transitions common to many faculty members – the vagabond life of academics – traveling nationally and internationally to multiple conferences to present talks on the latest accomplishments, participate in workshops and sometimes teach for short terms.  But success sometimes also comes with an eagerness for new challenges; thus, administrative positions soon followed, which also meant geographical moves.  And then there are moves that are taken due to a change in leadership above your own position, and you realize that you do work “at the pleasure of”.  These changes also take a toll on family relationships and illnesses about which the author is quite candid. 

Nevertheless, throughout these difficult times, the author maintains a perceptive and unpretentious sense of humor and begins to collect his multiple speeches and presentations resulting in several books on higher education administration, each of which seeks to help new administrators learn how to navigate positions, roles and responsibilities. 

Devoted Academics is intertwined with many personal accounts and the reader is steered through the triumphs and struggles of academic life, leadership and a personal life story that reveal the perseverance, empathy and humanity of a life well-lived.  Even in “retirement” and after personal changes and significant health challenges, the author continues to focus his attention to supporting the next generation of academic leaders and to the strengthening of higher education through his work with The Registry, an undertaking for which we are all very grateful.