SMITH, Walter Alvah Samuel August 4, 1929 February 8, 2012 Dr. Walter Alvah Samuel (Sam) Smith passed away February 8, 2012. Sam was born August 4, 1929 in Thomas, Oklahoma to Walter Beecher and Lillian Rose Smith. Sam grew up in Redwood City, California where he first met his future wife, Carol Lee Smith (nee Blankenship) when he was 13 years old.
Sam received his baccalaureate degree from the University of Redlands. He received his Master of Arts degree and his Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. Sam's academic career took him far and wide. Sam taught at the University of Nevada, University of California Riverside, University of Redlands, and the University of Alberta.
He was the President of the University of Lethbridge and of Athabasca University. Sam was the Dean of Arts of Simon Fraser University and the Provost of Campus at the United States International University in Maui. He also held the post of Associate Vice-President at the University of Calgary. After retiring from academia Sam joined Salasan Consulting. Excerpted from Victoria Times-Colonist on February 12, 2012
Service at U of L
He joined the University July 1, 1967 as a 37-year-old psychologist who previously held academic and administrative positions at the University of Alberta, and the University of Redlands in California.
Smith completed a five-year term as U of L President on June 30, 1972 and was one of the many individuals whose work and enthusiasm shaped the University’s early years – working through an often contentious site selection process, the creation of the west-side campus plan, the construction of University Hall and the move across the river from the Lethbridge College site -- and numerous other issues and successes. Read more about that process.
During the U of L’s 35th anniversary, Smith returned to campus to, as he put it, ‘check things out,’ visit with then-president Bill Cade, and see the new facilities.
He was interviewed for the campus newspaper The Legend. See story and Smith’s recently-discovered musings on the campus and its evolution.
Smith was the U of L’s cheerleader-in-chief, and persistent in the goal to bring the University to life in the community – even if it was initially set up in construction trailers on a windy parking lot.
His imprint on the campus and its community is indelible, even as the University enters its 45th year; from the premise and structure of the Statement of Philosophy to the arrangement of faculties and administrative departments, Smith and his administrative and faculty team of the day set the stage for what the U of L has evolved to become today.
Scholarships
Donations in Sam's honour can be made to the University of Lethbridge Student Fund.