Denzel Dale "Denny" Smith

DENZEL DALE SMITH Denzel Dale Smith (Denny) was born in 1912 in rural Nebraska and died with his loved ones at his side on April 25, 2007. His parents were Daniel Glenn Smith and Minnie Mae Hendrick whose father was a Nebraska pioneer farmer. Although an only child, he grew up with his cousin, Yvonne Hendrick Labart, who was like a sister to him. Denzel attended public school in Lushton and McCool Junction Nebraska. He worked for a time in a local department store until his aunt encouraged him to attend college. In 1936, he graduated from York College with a B.A. Denzel's first teaching job was in Fillmore County Nebraska (1931- 1935). He also taught high school in Wymore, Nebraska from 1936-1938., and has been designated a Nebraska Pioneer teacher. He met Josephine Spore while attending York College. They married in 1937 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The service was performed by Jo's father, who was an Evangelical United Brethren minister. Denzel attended graduate school at University of Nebraska where he received a M.A. in 1939 and his Ph.D. in 1941 in the area of Educational Psychology and Measurements. After obtaining his doctorate, Denzel enlisted in the US Navy. He served his country from 1942 to1946 as an Aviation Psychologist in the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, attaining an honorable discharge with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In addition to developing guidelines to aid in the selection of fighter pilots, his primary research area was airplane cockpit design related to eye movement of pilots during in-flight emergency situations. From 1946 to 1952, Denny was Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland. He taught courses and was Director of the University Counseling Center. Dr. Smith took a short leave of absence during this time to conduct research conferences on statistics and application of results for Japanese academicians. It was also during this period that Denny took several short trips into South Korean prison camps which housed North Korean and Chinese prisoners. These trips, under the auspices of the U. S. Army, called upon his expertise as a special psychological warfare officer. Although a civilian at the time, the Army gave him the temporary rank of Lieutenant General to protect him in case of capture. In 1952, Denny left academia to take a civilian position with the Office of Naval Research. There, he led the Personnel and Training Research Branch. In this capacity, he helped the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery reorient contracted programs toward applied research in learning, personnel selection, and performance measurement. He was appointed Director of their Psychological Sciences Division for the Department of Navy's Office of Naval Research – a post he held from 1957-1961. He was involved with psychological sciences in the Office of Naval Research during a period of increased pressure on the U.S. government to keep pace with the Soviet Union in the areas of paranormal psychological phenomenon and abilities. Denny's responsibilities were to evaluate research and provide support for academic institutions, for-profit and non-profit institutes who were working in these areas. In 1961, Denny moved from the Office of Naval Research to the National Science Foundation where he worked in the area of institutional support programs for colleges and universities. The science development program became the prototype for the NIH-Health Sciences Advancement Award Program as well as other federal agency programs. From 1961 through 1972, he held a series of positions of increasing impact within the NSF. While at the NSF, Dr. Smith assisted with policy and contributed to President Lyndon Johnson's 1965 State of the Union address. During these years, he also had other special assignments Consultant, Member Visiting Review Committee, Battelle Institute; Consultant, Member Educational Council, Republic of Montenegro, Yugoslavia; Member, Panel of Consultants to the Surgeon General of the Navy in Neuropsychiatry (for which he received a letter of commendation from the Surgeon General); Education Specialist for Educational Psychology and Measurement in Japanese Universities; Operations Analyst, Operations Research Office, Johns Hopkins University. After retiring from public service in 1972, Denny worked for University Associates in Washington, D.C. His primary areas of focus were educational planning, management, and evaluation. For two years he coordinated the annual review of Howard University for The Department of Education as mandated by Congress. He completed a survey of evaluation issues for the National Endowment for the Arts. For the Office of Naval Research, he reviewed issues related to recruitment and retention of NROTC cadets at historically Black colleges and universities with NROTC units. For several years he was consultant and advisor to the Director Division of Institutional Development, Dept. of Education with emphasis on long range planning for Title III, Developing institutions Program. For eight years he was senior consultant and member of the board, University Associates. He designed and established guidelines for the Advanced Institutional Development Program (AIDP) evaluation project (Office of Education) and launched the program as its first associate director. In addition to his leadership role in designing and launching the monitoring and evaluation program for the Tuskegee AIDP Consortium, he provided in depth technical assistance to historically black colleges and universities in establishing evaluation systems responsive to the program planning and management needs of senior administrators. In 1979, Denny retired and moved to Vero Beach, Florida. During his retirement, he enjoyed fishing and helping family members and friends with genealogy. He also wrote many family stories during this time. In Vero, he continued his routine of daily sunning and running (that he had started in the 1980s while living in Washington). Denny and Jo celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1987. Josephine passed away in 1994. Denny married Sara Pankaskie in 1998 and they lived in Vero until his death in 2007. He is survived by his wife Sara; three children, David (Katrina), Karen, and Susan; six grandchildren, Carina Smith Rowley, Jessica, Duncan (Sheela Maru), and David Smith-Rohrberg; David and William Sherrerd-Smith; two stepsons, Charles and Larry Carter; and his cousin, Yvonne Labart. A memorial service was held in Washington, D.C. on August 14, 2007, following interment at Arlington National Cemetery.