The long list of credentials Criminal Justice professor James Smith has acquired over his career impressed the audience.
Smith is the winner of the 2018-2019 adjunct faculty award.
In the words of Dean Hedeen, “Mr. Smith impresses everyone he meets with his positivity.” Dr. Grace Yackee said in her presentation to Smith
Smith seemed surprised that he won the award, noting that he’s new to MCCC.
“I started in August last year, and this is only my second semester here,” Smith said
Previously, he was a teacher for seven years at ITT Tech before the doors unexpectedly closed Sept. 11, 2016.
Dr. Yackee said in her presentation that his students describe Dr. Smith as: “knowledgeable, caring and down to earth.”
Smith obviously has a strong connection to his students. Two students came up to Smith after the awards and congratulated and hugged him.
After 25 years in the criminal investigation justice field, he finds himself right at home at MCCC.
While he was very qualified for his award, Yackee could not help but list off of the many fields he was professionally been involved with. This including: fire, personal investigation, first responder training, and emergency preparedness.
“I know Kojo because we belong to the same exchange club. After one of the meetings I went up to him and said ‘I’d like to come teach with you’ and then I pulled my resume out of my coat jacket”.
With a passion for emergency preparedness, this comes as no surprise that he would have his resume with him ready and on hand.
“I love teaching, it is my passion and we have a lot of fun” Smith said.
