THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS DR. RANDALL SMITH Dr. Randall Smith Department of Theology Associate Professor Born and raised near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Dr. Randall Smith also lived in Philadelphia and Chicago before attending college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, graduating with a BA in Chemistry from Cornell College. During his time at Cornell, he converted to Catholicism, and after college, went off to study his new-found Catholic faith. He subsequently earned a Master’s degree in theology from the University of Dallas and then completed a Master’s degree and doctorate at the University of Notre Dame. During his college and graduate school years, Dr. Smith took on a number of interesting part-time jobs, including various jobs in a hospital, concrete factory worker, telephone operator, security guard, donut baker, research technician for Frito-Lay Research and Development, gate agent for an airline, IT support, UPS box loader, and high school teacher. Of them all, perhaps his most interesting job was as a school bus driver. “My favorite vehicle to drive is a school bus,” says Dr. Smith.“When you drive a school bus, everyone gets out of your way. I once drove a school bus the wrong way down a one-way street in downtown Manhattan, and even the New Yorkers just got out of the way. If you break down by the side of the road in a bus, people will actually stop to help you. For me, there's just nothing better to drive than a school bus.” As much fun as driving a school bus was, Dr. Smith loved teaching more. His first university teaching position was at the University of Notre Dame, and in the fall of 2001, he joined the faculty at UST. Since that time, Dr. Smith has taught a number of theology courses including “Teachings of the Catholic Church” and “Modern Challenges to Christianity,” as well as the second Honors course, HNRS 1392, “From Empire to Christendom.” He always takes great pleasure in his job. “I love teaching. And I really love talking with my students. In fact, I love talking with just about anybody about things that really matter to them.” © Copyright  University of St. Thomas. All Rights Reserved. http://www.stthom.edu/Faculty_Bios/S_thru_U/Smith_Randall.aqf