Smiley honored by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Though in the end he was not one of the four educators to be selected for a Professor of the Year award, Fred Smiley, an education professor at Montana State University-Northern, said the real honor is having been considered in the first place.

Smiley said that when William Rugg, Northern's provost who nominated Smiley, came down to his office to inform him of the news that while he had not won, he did receive an honorary mention in the form of a plaque.

"It would have been nice to be one of those four that won, but to be singled out and told 'you are part of this good people,' I haven't come off of cloud nine yet."

The U.S Professor of the Year award is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. It honors undergraduate professors nationally who, according to the organization's website, "excel in teaching and positively influence the lives and careers of students."

Contenders for the award are chosen from a pool of about 300 nominees, Rugg said. The recipient receives a $5,000 from the Carnegie Endowment for the Advancement of Education and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, as well as a trip to the awards celebration with one guest and either a former or current student.

Along with the four national winners, there were 35 others at the state level, including Douglas J. Emlen, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Montana.

Smiley has had a long career in education, spanning back to the 1970s. In addition to teaching students from grades four to higher education, he has tutored at-risk students, coached varsity basketball and was a vice principal at a school in Nevada.

Both Smiley and Rugg said when professors and faculty are saluted for their work, it gives that college prestige.

Smiley expressed appreciation for Rugg nominating him, and for the provost's' work in reviving Northern's secondary education program that had been put on moratorium by the college's previous chancellor James Limbaugh in 2013.

"I've been doing this work as long as I have been here and it's been recognized because he is here," Smiley said.