KOKOMO, Ind. – Adam Smith will be among 25 Indiana University faculty serving as Bicentennial Professors, celebrating the university’s 200th anniversary.
Smith, IU Kokomo associate professor of business, will travel around the state to deliver presentations about his research and professional activities in business and education.
“It’s an honor to be among this group of faculty, representing IU out in the state,” he said. “This is an example of the community engagement I have promoted to students for years. I’m proud I can take a bigger role for IU Kokomo in that regard, and be out in the community.”
In business, he will talk about employee motivation and differences in the workplace, while his education presentations will touch on service learning, student consulting, and teamwork.
His current research focuses on entrepreneurship, and he’s also worked with students on community engagement, visiting interns on site and establishing relationships with their supervisors. He’s also mentored students in the HR Student Association and Enactus as they’ve provided consulting services to area businesses.
“One of IU Kokomo’s missions is to be of service in our region, and to get out in the community and work with businesses, organizations, and individuals, to share what we’re doing, and how we’re preparing our students for the workforce,” he said, adding that it also goes back to IU’s beginnings.
“The Bicentennial Professor program is an effort to get back to our roots, where faculty went out into the state, and shared their expertise,” he said. “We’re bringing that tradition back.”
Smith joined IU Kokomo’s faculty in 2013. He earned a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Tennessee and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
He is an Enactus Sam Walton Fellow, and a faculty advisor for the Human Resources Student Association. He has been honored with the IU Kokomo Claude Rich Excellence in Teaching Award and the IU Trustees Teaching Award.
Bicentennial professors represent all IU campuses, and include faculty in medicine, environmental affairs, business, education, sciences, and the humanities. Speaking engagements will be arranged by IU’s Office of the Bicentennial, with plans to reach all of the state’s 92 counties.
The program is part of IU’s continued commitment to public outreach and community engagement. Each Bicentennial Professor will travel around the state delivering public presentations at community forums that describe — in an engaging and accessible manner — some of their research or professional activities.
IU was founded on January 20, 1820, and will celebrate its bicentennial with a multiyear, multi campus program to recognize and chronicle its history, showcase its significant contributions to the world, and set a course for the next century.
For more information about IU’s bicentennial, go to 200.iu.edu.
Indiana University Kokomo celebrates 75 years as north central Indiana’s choice for higher education.