By Mary Shelley-Snell

Support the Smith Center: 

bigorangegive.utk.edu/smith-center

At the heart of the Smith Center’s mission is a story about how food brings everyone to the table and is a medium for connection no matter who you are or where you come from. This story began in the hearts of Donnie (B.S. animal science ’80) and Terry Smith (B.S. elementary education ’80) and through their generous giving has impacted many faculty, staff, and students at the University of Tennessee, as well as people all around the world. 

“We realized we needed places where we could go to support research and educate a generation of students. We wanted to see UTIA’s Extension expertise be applied to real-world circumstances,” Donnie explains. “We’ve still got a long way to go to help end poverty, end stunting in malnourished children, and support the most vulnerable populations. We felt like we had to do what we could to try to make a difference in the grand challenges facing the agriculture industry. That looked like donating to support the folks out there trying to answer these questions: how will we feed this planet over the next decade, fifty, hundred years? And what’s at stake if we fail?” 

Terry emphasized that the University of Tennessee was the first place they thought about when they decided to act on their passion for solving world hunger. “It was just natural for us to come back here where it all began,” she says. “We were educated here and it’s a place we love so much. We knew that UT would help make our vision a reality.” They endowed the Donald and Terry Smith Chair for International Sustainable Agriculture in 2014, then expanded that endowment in 2017 to create the Smith Center.

Donnie views the state of Tennessee as a microcosm of everything the world needs from an agricultural perspective. In West Tennessee, row crops are the mainstay of the state’s agriculture industry, which is also supported by a strong beef supply chain and the growing poultry sector. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park in East Tennessee is also the most biodiverse National Park in the United States. “If you’re going to affect climate change, if you’re going to feed the population, if you’re going to provide the fiber that people need to clothe themselves, you can find all of that right here in Tennessee. When I think about carbon sequestration, my mind goes to the Milan Research Center in West Tennessee because they helped pioneer no-till farming,” he says. “The State of Tennessee is practically an ideal laboratory to do the research, teaching, and outreach to solve the challenges facing us on a global scale.”

We spoke with Donnie and Terry’s daughter Rachel about her support of the Smith Center. “Oftentimes we forget that even in America, women are impacted by hunger and food insecurity much more often than men. If you look at the continent of Africa, that number is going to be even higher,” she says. “If you’re thinking of reasons to support the Smith Center and, like me, you don’t have a background in agriculture, it’s important to recognize that creating opportunities for food security in the Global South leads to creating opportunities for education, social development, economic growth, and better health outcomes. All of that progress depends on people getting to eat three times a day, every day.” 

When asked what they were most proud of about the work the Smith Center is doing, Terry emphasized how great it was to see where the Rwandan farmers from the Center’s flagship USAID project are now. “Through learning how to raise chickens, these farmers were able to increase their income, and now their kids can go to school. They have insurance and have added other income streams. Their lives are improved by becoming entrepreneurs and it’s amazing that our partnership with UT made that happen,” Terry Smith explains. 

Donnie is excited about the opportunities the Smith Center has helped create for students in the Herbert College of Agriculture. He recounted a recent experience speaking in a class at UT where a student wanted to know more about getting involved with issues around food waste. Ten years ago he wouldn’t have had the resources to offer her, but in that moment he was able to encourage her to visit the Smith Center for guidance. “We are continuing to develop programs that allow students to come to the Herbert College of Agriculture and have ample opportunities to experience the growth that comes from studying abroad,” he says. “Being able to provide those opportunities for these students and make their education that much deeper and richer is important for the future because those experiences will spark an idea in those students’ minds that could one day be the solution to some of these grand challenges.”

By donating to the Smith Center, you are supporting their work to connect UT faculty, staff, and students to international opportunities and helping them engage with the issues facing the future of our global food system. The Smith family can’t imagine a better way to build on their original vision. “I’m unabashedly biased because I’m a UT grad and I love this place. I know so many people, so many UT faculty and administrators and researchers and Extension agents who are passionate about this work. Their dedication is unmatched,” Donnie explains. “So if I were thinking about how to invest in finding solutions to these issues, I would want to know that there is a competent group of incredibly intelligent, insightful, and inquisitive people that will steward my donations. They’re there. It’s right here.” 

In the words of Donnie Smith, “This is the Volunteer State. We are the Volunteer State. We can do anything, and we’ll volunteer to help anybody.” Here at the Smith Center, we hope to embody those words as we work to empower families, staff, and students to grow global at UTIA and beyond. 

Big Orange Give is the university’s day of giving. It is a day for the Volunteer family to come together in support of UT. This year Bill and Dianne Seeley will be matching gifts to the Smith Center up to $5,000. The Seeley family have been long-time friends of the Smith Center, and we are grateful for their support of our previous work in Haiti. You can find more information about that here: 

smithcenter.tennessee.edu/latin-america-the-caribbean-2/

Thanks to the generosity of the Seeley family, this year your gift will have twice the impact! Please consider supporting our efforts to #GrowGlobal by donating at the link below. 

bigorangegive.utk.edu/smith-center