Together with his wife, this 2024 Lifetime Achievement recipient has eaten well over 25,000 meals in the dining common during their years at BJU! This is a man whose family and lifetime of accomplishments are woven into the fabric of Bob Jones University.
SHAPING HIS WORK ETHIC
Dr. Phil Smith’s dad, Hubert, with only an eighth-grade education, worked as an inspector for Frigidaire Corporation. In this capacity, Hubert had the opportunity to observe young Frigidaire executives as they were beginning their corporate careers. Hubert Smith observed, “Those men who worked hard and did their best got ahead in their first five years.”
Young Phil Smith took note of his dad’s observation and determined to be one who would work hard, do his best and give God first place in his life.
In 1954, Phil married Marilyn Brown, a girl he’d known all his life. In the first eleven years of marriage, Phil completed his undergraduate degree from BJU, a Master of Education degree from Miami University, became a father, returned to teach at BJU, developed the media center for the School of Education and completed a doctorate in education from Penn State University. But there is one important addition to this part of Phil Smith’s timeline. In 1961, Dr. Edwards, Dean of the Administration, asked if Phil would accept the position of Dean of the College of Arts and Science. Phil recounted how shocked he was – as a 27-year-old – with this request, but also remembered his father’s observation about bearing the yolk in one’s youth.
During the 4 years Phil Smith served as Dean, some of the initiatives he implemented included the lecture and tutorial approach for the History of Civilization and English courses as well as securing the equipment to make a language laboratory feasible.
In 1965, Dr. Bob, Jr., asked him to be the Registrar – a position he held for 16 years. As Registrar, Phil Smith helped launch Bob Jones Elementary School, which joined the Junior High and High School to provide a full K-12 program on campus – with all three schools under his supervision. Today, his legacy continues through a flourishing Bob Jones Academy with an enrollment of over 1300 students.
In the mid-1970s, God burdened Dr. Bob, III’s, heart to start a textbook production unit, and he gave Phil Smith the job. Dr. Smith understood the assignment. He put together the right authors (George Mulfinger and Emmett Williams), put together the faculty to do the supporting work and put together the production staff. Fifty years later, BJU Press employs 450 and occupies 190,000 square feet. The new state-of-the-art printing press is one of only two in the world. Students in 130 countries use over 2 million BJU Press products daily.
BECOMING BJU’S FIRST PROVOST
In 1981, Dr. Bob, III, asked Phil to be the University’s first Provost and Chief Academic Officer – a position he held for 24 years. It was during this time that God brought together all of Dr. Smith’s educational experience when he was called upon to start BJ LINC and Home Sat, the forerunner of the distance learning programs at BJU Press and the University.”
As Provost, Dr. Smith developed the Bachelor of Science in nursing, pre-med, pre-law, School of Applied Studies associate degree programs, airframe and powerplant, cosmetology, the guidance and counseling major, the criminal justice major and graduate programs in education and pastoral theology, special education, health, fitness, and recreation, international studies, the Office of Career Development and Placement and the Office of Extended Education. 
Dr. Phil Smith is known as a man who “could make things happen out of nothing.” Bob Jones, III, said, “I never asked him to do a project at which he did not succeed. He brought the school’s academic credibility to the forefront. He was the architect of what became this great pacesetting, trendsetting academic, Christian liberal arts program, and he never settled for anything less than the very finest.”
Dwight Gustafson described him as “the head architect for the dreams [who] put together the plan to make [the dreams] a reality.”
Perhaps his greatest asset was his ability to recognize the talent and potential of God’s servants and move them in God’s timing into the right position. Dr. Smith was instrumental in identifying faculty to pursue advanced degrees and then helping them, as he had been helped, with financial support through BJU.
As instructed by his father, supported by his wife and empowered by his Lord, one of Dr. Smith’s most foundational qualities was his work ethic. “Often when I was heading home from Fine Arts rehearsals at night,” wrote Dr. Gustafson, “I would see Phil’s car in the Art Gallery parking lot and the light on in his office. The faithful steward hadn’t yet finished his day.”
SUPPORTING HIS FAMILY, COLLEAGUES AND STUDENTS
While carrying tremendous responsibility at BJU, it was never to the neglect of his family. His son, Dr. Dan Smith – BJU’s current Registrar – remembers, “Dad worked many long hours but always had time for family. I never knew him to be unavailable to us when he was needed.” Above all else, God had first place in the Smith home. Phil and Marilyn were intentional about teaching their children, by example, how to love and walk with God, how to love and serve others, and how to live victorious Christian lives.
Many who know Phil, know him to be a tender-hearted, compassionate man. Dr. Bob, III, recounts recently attending the funeral of an elderly former employee:
For 43 years she played a strategic role behind the scenes. Most students would never have known her. She’d been retired for many years. I looked around the room, and there was Phil.
That man was at every funeral of any faculty member or staff member that ever served here – that I attended – and there were many I didn’t get to. He attended every student and faculty recital he could possibly get to.
The Smith’s attended everything – ballgames included. I don’t how they found it possible, but they did. Intensely interested in things, making themselves available in supportive roles just by being there. They loved the students, and he has one of the warmest hearts I’ve ever known.”
Dan Smith remembers how friends during his college years recognized his father’s love for the ministry of BJU and sometimes joked that “his father must have Petimus Credimus embroidered on his socks.”
Today, Phil Smith is ninety years of age. He was married to his wife, Marilyn, for almost seventy years, and God blessed them with three children, six grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. They actively served BJU for 50 years and in God’s provision will continue to serve students through a recently established scholarship for those pursuing degrees in the Division of Teacher Education and the Division of Nursing.
Phil started young, made the most of his 33,000 plus days so far on this earth – and by every measure, achieved success.
The late Dr. Walter Fremont said of his friend and co-worker, “Phil Smith is a quiet, controlled, humble man who believes that if you trust and glorify God – and don’t care who gets the credit, there is no limit to what can be accomplished.”
Christ-follower, Husband, Father, Teacher, Leader, Architect, Icon of stability, the man who was always there, back hall light – these terms all appropriately describe Dr. Phil Smith.
Millions of students – on-campus, online and in classrooms around the world – have benefited and will continue to benefit from Dr. Phil Smith’s life work. And we who know him personally have been richly blessed by his faith-filled journey and his loyalty to the mission of BJU. On behalf of Bob Jones University, the Alumni Relations Department was honored to present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Philip Smith.
