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Ernest Smith

Ernest Smith is the Director of the Honors Program at NKU. He holds a Ph.D. in English from New York University, and conducts research in twentieth-century U.S. poetry and culture. A product of an Honors Program (Wright State University), he taught at Boston University and the University of Central Florida prior to coming to NKU.

"I grew up in southwestern Ohio, but took a 30-year tour of the eastern half of the U.S. before returning," Smith notes. "It’s great to be back in the area after being away so long. I was in Florida nineteen years, and while I love the beach, I never got used to the heat!"

Dr. Smith is passionate about poetry and music, and he enjoys making lists. Asked for favorite poets, he laughs and says, "Too many to mention, but here goes for a start: Hart Crane, Whitman, Berryman, Plath, Lowell, Bidart, Mullen, Yeats, Auden, H.D., Rich, Brodsky. I’m probably missing someone I’m crazy about!"

He recently composed a list of his favorite music artists on a long plane trip. "It’s at 125 artists and growing all the time," Smith said. "The top five are purely canonical, Dylan, Miles, Coltrane, Beatles, Stones. After that, it gets interesting. Someone recently asked me for the most obscure artist on the list. To me, none of them are obscure!"

In addition to poetry and music, Dr. Smith enjoys travel, the visual arts, cooking, and parenting. He and his wife, Mel Woods, have a daughter named Lily and a son named Dylan. When they were married, they decided to do it abroad, and chose Florence, Italy, as the site of their wedding.