David W. Smith Associate Professor of Biology
David’s ties to material culture center on his work as a baseball historian. He is the founder of a non-profit corporation, Retrosheet which is a major repository for historical baseball data that is used by numerous researchers, including authors and movie producers. He routinely provides customized reports for many Major League teams and sportswriters and has been featured for his work by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Sports Illustrated, National Baseball Hall of Fame, and ESPN among others. He recently received an award from the Baseball Reliquary recognizing his contributions to the field.
A firm believer in the importance of faculty governance, he has served in many campus-wide capacities in addition to multiple committees in Biology: College and University Faculty Senates (President of University Senate in 1983-1984), and many Senate committees. He is currently the Grievance Officer for AAUP (the faculty union), a position he has occupied for some 15 years. He is also active off campus as a genetic and ethical consultant to the Newborn Screening Program of the State of Delaware and was also Senator Tom Carper’s microbiology expert at town meetings in the fall of 2001 following the anthrax attacks in Washington.
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At Delaware, David has taught numerous classes in biology, including microbiology, genetics, ecology, evolution, biochemistry, and bioethics. He has been the Undergraduate Program Director in Biology since 2001. He received the UD Excellence in Teaching Award in 1977, the Continuing Education Excellence in Teaching Award in 1994, and Excellence in Advising Awards from the College of Arts and Sciences and the University in 2005 and 2007, respectively. He has also taught regularly in the MALS (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies) program since 1992.