Chris Smith and Owning Your Education
Spotlight: 2025 Exceptional Faculty Award recipient
Professor Chris Smith believes he was born an English major. However, his path from word lover to English professor wasn’t a straight line.
Chris began his educational journey as a homeschooled student. He admitted, though, that his mom eventually gave up trying to provide a structured experience, and he spent most of his childhood reading in the library. Although he excelled academically in high school, college was a different story. Managing his time with a busy class schedule didn’t come naturally, and Chris quickly found himself trapped in a cycle of procrastination and catching up.
It was Chris’ mom who convinced him not to quit college, but instead to give it one more year. Taking that chance changed everything. It was then that he discovered his major.
Initially, Chris believed that being an English major meant focusing on literature, and he wanted to try something new and challenging. He considered a few different pathways — including becoming a German education teacher — until one fateful meeting with his advisor during his second year. He told her that he didn’t care for the back-and-forth schedule of reading a book and then writing a paper. He was interested only in the writing part. She introduced him to another professor within the English department, and that’s when it clicked.
“I learned about rhetoric and composition, and I was hooked,” he said.
Fast forward to 2009. Chris had just graduated from graduate school, and the country was recovering from an economic crash. The job market was tight. He began with temp jobs before eventually joining a company that offers testing services full-time — but not without some reluctance.
“It wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he said. “I didn’t enjoy the work, but it came with a retirement plan and a steady paycheck.”
However, fate had other plans.
About two months after signing on with the new company, Chris attended a Pride event in Portland. The street was packed, and seating was hard to find, so when a woman nearby was looking for a place to sit, Chris invited her to join him on the curb. Little did he know that this moment would launch his teaching career.
The woman sitting next to him happened to be Marylynne Diggs, then the outgoing adjunct coordinator of Clark College’s English department. She gave Chris an impromptu interview right there on the curb and asked him to send her his CV. Not long after that, he quit his job and never looked back.
“Lo and behold, I’ve been here for 10 years,” he said.
His students and colleagues agree — it was the right choice.
One nominator said, “We’re not just students to Chris. We’re people, and we exist in the world, and he wants us to do well.”
One of the many ways he connects with his students is by shining a light on some of the barriers he faced in school, including his early tendency to procrastinate — a struggle he still sees many of his students dealing with today.
“I like to draw it out,” he said. “I ask students about it, and we talk openly about procrastination. I share my experience and tools; they share theirs. And I think we just sort of make it a collab, because, to be honest, I still procrastinate. But we hold each other accountable.”
Chris’s ultimate goal for his students is to walk away from his class with a sense of productive persistence and self-efficacy. He also reminds them that they’re paying to be here. They have the right to get as much out of their education as possible.
“One of the things I really hammer home for students is that you are here to get your education, so don’t let anything stand in your way,” he said. “If you have a question, ask it. If you need a resource, seek it out. It’s your education.”
His mom had a saying: Education isn’t something they can take away from you. That has been Chris’s mantra, and it’s one he now passes on to his students.
“It wasn’t until the 2008 economic crash that I understood what my mom meant when she said that,” Chris explained. “So many people lost their jobs, and I realized that could happen to me. But the one thing I still have that I can use to advocate for myself, my knowledge, my skills, and my abilities, is my degree. And I really try to impart that to students.”
He provides the same thoughtful guidance when students are considering career options. Because they are the ones living with the choice, he encourages them to pursue something they are genuinely interested in. This advice stems in part from the large number of Running Start students in his classes. At this pivotal stage in their lives, Chris wants them to understand what they truly want for themselves.
One student recalled that exact kind of impact Chris had on her life. He recognized her passion for research and helped her learn more about pursuing it as a career, including helping her identify a program that would be a good fit. “Because of Chris, I know what I want to do with my life,” she said.
Whether it’s the way he fosters a positive learning environment or how he leads by example, Chris’s ability to inspire and empower his students is evident year after year, proving that school is indeed more than simply reading a book and writing a paper.
“It’s about what you learned along the way,” Chris said. “What skills and awareness of the world did you gain? Because no matter where you go — and you’ve got a lifetime of careers ahead of you — life happens outside of our control, but the one thing they can’t take away is that knowledge.”
Learn More About the Exceptional Faculty Awards
The Clark College Exceptional Faculty Awards are presented annually to full-time and part-time faculty members. Nominations can be submitted by Clark College students, faculty, classified employees, administrators, alumni, Board members, and Foundation directors. Students are particularly encouraged to submit nominations. Learn more about the Exceptional Faculty Awards here.
Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley
Story by Malena Goerl, Staff Writer, Communications and Marketing