UAB's Jay Smith retires this month

Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 9/1/2005

Professor Jay Smith, director of the Industrial Distribution program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, retired on September 1. Smith led UAB's ID program for 14 years, and is credited with turning it into a widely recognized and respected source of business talent.

"[We] are substantially better off today than we were 14 years ago, and much credit has to be afforded to Professor Jay Smith," professor Robert A. Robicheaux, chairman of UAB's Management, Marketing & Industrial Distribution program, said in announcing Smith's retirement over the summer. "Though he may not participate as much in our day-to-day affairs in the coming years, his contributions and impacts will affect us and our students for many, many years."

UAB's ID program offers a joint degree in business and engineering. The program has grown from five students when Smith arrived in 1991 to more than 120 students today. Graduates are placed in manufacturing and distribution jobs with companies nationwide.

In addition to his work within the program, Smith also helped develop the University of Industrial Distribution, a continuing education program for manufacturing and distribution professionals. UID was founded 11 years ago, and today is sponsored by 26 industry trade associations.

Smith began his academic career in 1966 as a faculty member at the University of Maryland's College of Business Administration. From 1968 to 1972, he was assistant director of the Transportation Institute at Southern Illinois University. He became a charter faculty member of the University of North Florida in 1972, and in 1984, he became Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of North Texas. He joined UAB in 1991.