The Texas Christian University Faculty Senate and Board of Trustees voted to bestow on Emmet G. Smith, former faculty member in the TCU School of Music, an honorary Doctor of Music degree. The presentation was during commencement ceremonies on May 12. During Smith’s 45 years as Professor of Organ and Church Music at TCU, 18 of his students were awarded international scholarships for study abroad. Emeritus Professor Smith was also a Fulbright Scholar in Paris in 1956, a performer, masterclass teacher, organ consultant, and lecturer for universities, conservatories, and churches throughout the United States and Europe.
An active member of the AGO for 71 years, he served as dean of the Fort Worth chapter, and has served as president of the Delta of Texas chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Smith distinguished himself as the Harold D. and Imogene Herndon Professor of Music at Texas Christian University. He has received numerous honors, and has concertized throughout the United States, as well as in Luxembourg, Germany, and France, where he performed at Notre Dame Cathedral.
During his years at TCU, thirteen of his students were chosen as Fulbright Scholars for study abroad. In addition, his students won two Rotary International scholarships, two foreign government scholarships and one private foundation award for study abroad. Two of his students were admitted to the Chartres Competition. In 1964 he was the first TCU professor to organize and direct summer study in Europe, and returned with students every four years. He was chosen as a TCU Honors Professor and was recognized for his teaching with the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1985. He was named a Minnie Stevens Piper Professor of Texas, and was the recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented.
Smith was known as a mentoring, protective, and demanding professor. In tribute to 40 years of instruction and friendship, more than 75 of his former pupils returned to the TCU campus to honor him in 1991. Five years later they returned for his retirement from TCU, where Olivier Latry, titular organist at Notre Dame, Paris, France, honored him with a recital in Ed Landreth Auditorium at TCU.
Related News
