Dr. Patricia Smith, professor emeritus of industrial/organizational psychology, is applauded by Dr. Bill Balzer, dean of Continuing and Extended Education, following the announcement of her $1 million gift to BGSU.

Retired professor pledges $1 million to BGSU

Dr. Jennifer Gillespie, psychology, often lunches with Dr. Patricia Smith, whom she considers a wise, witty and wonderful mentor. Still, Gillespie didn’t know just how generous the professor emeritus of industrial/organizational psychology could be until May 5. That was the day Smith announced plans to give $1 million to the University.

Smith and her late husband, Dr. Olin Smith, joined the psychology faculty as full professors in 1966. She is pledging a $1 million charitable trust gift that will support two programs. The announcement was made at the spring tea for retired faculty and staff, but she and her husband had decided to make such a gift many years ago to provide endowed support for future generations of BGSU faculty and students.

A portion of the charitable trust will go to the Olin and Patricia Smith Piano Accompaniment Fund to support student accompanists in the College of Musical Arts. The remainder of the gift is designated for the Patricia and Olin Smith Faculty Development Fund to support faculty in the industrial/organizational psychology program.

Smith is internationally known in industrial/organizational psychology as the developer of the Job Descriptive Index, a measure of job satisfaction that is used throughout the world. Among her many other contributions to the field are the creation of the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales, a method of employee evaluation, and research into the effects of monotony and boredom in the workplace.

In 1984, she received the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association.

When she joined the faculty, Smith explained industrial psychology as "the process of making work more satisfying to everybody from the top executives on down," and noted there was “an acute shortage” of industrial psychologists. She helped to alleviate that shortage through her efforts to develop the industrial/organizational psychology program at BGSU. To top it off, today the program ranks third nationally, according to the 2006 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools," published by U.S. News & World Report.

Speaking at the announcement of Smith’s gift, Dr. Bill Balzer, associate vice president and dean of Continuing & Extended Education, noted that over the years, “Pat has shared her expertise on job satisfaction with graduate students and faculty by leading the longest-running research group in the field of psychology—almost 50 years.

“I know I speak for others when I say I’m proud to be part of Pat and Olie’s BGSU family,” continued Balzer, who is an industrial/organizational psychologist and former chair of the psychology department. “Personally, I can’t thank them enough for all their support over the years. Pat continues to be my mentor. She continues to mentor young faculty as well. When she says, ‘You probably already know this,’ pay close attention. You’ll learn something.”

The Smiths’ gift, through the Family Campaign, will be counted as part of Building Dreams: The Centennial Campaign for Bowling Green State University. The focus of the fund-raising campaign, which continues through December 2008, is to increase scholarships, enhance faculty and leadership positions, strengthen programs, build for the future and sustain the University.