In Memoriam: Nathaniel Gene Smith 1976–2014

Nathaniel “Nate” Gene Smith, 38, of Lawrence, Kansas, passed away on July 1, 2014. Born on June 20, 1976, his hometown was Bay City, MI. He graduated summa cum laude from Central Michigan University in 1999 with a BS in psychology and a minor in gerontology. In 2000, he entered the doctoral program in the Department of Human Development and Family Life (HDFL) at the University of Kansas, now the Department of Applied Behavioral Science (ABS). His advisor was Professor L. Keith Miller, now retired. At the time of his death, Nate was co-advised by Professors Miller and Edward K. Morris. He had completed his Master’s degree and his dissertation research. He only needed to take his comprehensives examination and defend his dissertation to be awarded his doctorate degree.

In teaching and advising, Nate was Professor Miller’s graduate teaching assistant for 5 years in HDFL 140 (Introduction to Principles of Behavior) and ABSC 100 (Introduction to Applied Behavioral Science), where he was also an advisor and mentor to students. With Nate’s assistance, Professor Miller revised the third edition of his textbook—Principles of Everyday Behavior Analysis (Miller 1997, 2006). In the preface to the fourth edition, Professor Miller wrote the following:

I owe an enormous debt to Nathan Smith, who has served as my teaching assistant the last 5 years. He has helped find many of the interesting and relevant advancements in behavior analysis newly added to this book. He has helped identify and test revisions to weak programming sequences. He has been a wonderful colleague. (pp. xi–xiii)

For Nate, teaching was defined in terms of students’ learning. He got it.

In research and scholarship, Nate was dedicated. Initially, he was a research assistant in KU’s Life Span Institute for a project on self-instruction with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). His main interest, though, was in human services and staff management in programs for children and adults with autism and IDD. For this, he conducted simulation research in innovative programs of translational research with Professor Miller. He was a superb and creative experimentalist, but regrettably, for research that may never be published.

With Professor Morris, Nate pursued a program of scholarship in history and theory, in which he published ten co-authored articles in the field’s leading peer-referred journals (see Appendix), with more to be submitted (e.g., Altus et al. in preparation). He presented 34 co-authored conference papers and posters, three of them invited. And he gave nine co-authored university colloquia, all invited. He was a meticulous historiographer and bibliographer, gaining special renown in the latter for his “A Bibliography of the Primary-Source Works of B. F. Skinner” (see Morris and Smith 2003). An updated version is available at the B. F. Skinner Foundation website http://www.bfskinner.org/publications/full-bibliography/. The most recent version is available from the author (see Author Note). In history and theory, Nate not only saw the big picture but also reveled in the less obvious pursuits of research and scholarship: locating hard-to-find articles and resources; preparing and revising spreadsheets, tables, and graphs; and conducting statistical analyses. He delighted in this work and expected no quid pro quo. He was a terrific colleague.

In service, Nate was a co-consultant for Sloan Publishing for Jay Moore’s 2008 Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behaviorism; a guest reviewer for The Behavior Analyst, the house journal of the Association for Behavior Analysis International; and a member of the HDFL Graduate Student Organization. Among Nate’s professional affiliations were the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association (Division 25 for Behavior Analysis), the Association for Behavior Analysis International (e.g., the special interest group on the History of Behavior Analysis), the Cambridge Center of Behavioral Studies, the International Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences (i.e., Cheiron), the Kansas Association for Behavior Analysis, and the Organizational Behavior Management Network.

Nate was engaging and generous, yet gentle and unassuming—and private. He touched the lives of his colleagues and mentors deeply with sincerity and loyalty that will not be forgotten. He was open-hearted to Kansans less fortunate than he, offering personal, social, and even financial support. His works of charity will live on. With his friends, he was all the above and more. He was witty, waggish, and plain-spoken about priorities and ethics. He was peerless at play: wordplay, dancing, kiting, and joking, plus at Scrabble® and chess. When alone, he listened to the great poet, Bob Dylan.

Nate was preceded in death by his father and is survived by his mother, a brother, a sister-in-law, and three nephews; by his father-in-law, mother-in-law, five brothers-in-law, six sisters-in-law, and 20 nieces and nephews; and by his wife, Jennifer Simon Smith. Nate’s wish was that no services be held. As he would say, “Cheerio.”

Appendix

Bibliography

Morris, E. K., & Smith, N. G. (2003). Bibliographic processes and products, and a bibliography of the primary-source works of B. F. Skinner. The Behavior Analyst, 26, 41–67.

Morris, E. K., Lazo, J. F., & Smith, N. G. (2004). Whether, when, and why Skinner published on biological participation. The Behavior Analyst, 27, 153–169.

Morris, E. K., & Smith, N. G. (2004). On the origin and preservation of cumulative record in its struggle for life as a favored term. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 82, 357–373.

Smith, N. G., & Morris, E. K. (2004). A tribute to B. F. Skinner at 100: his awards and honors. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 5, 121–128.

Morris, E. K., Smith, N. G., & Altus, D. (2005). B. F. Skinner’s contributions to applied behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst, 28, 99–131.

Morris, E. K., Smith, N. G., & Lazo, J. F. (2005). Why Morris, Lazo, and Smith (2004) was published in The Behavior Analyst. The Behavior Analyst, 28, 169–179.

Simon, J. L., Morris, E. K., & Smith, N. G. (2007). Trends in women’s participation at the meetings of the Association for Behavior Analysis: 1975–2005. The Behavior Analyst, 30, 181–196.

Madden, G. J., Smith, N. G., Brewer, A. T., Pinkston, J. W., & Johnson, P. S. (2008). Steady-state assessment of impulsive choice in Lewis and Fischer 344 rats: between-condition delay manipulations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 90, 333–344.

McKerchar, T. L, Morris, E. K., & Smith, N. G. (2011). A quantitative analysis and natural history of B. F. Skinner’s coauthoring practices. The Behavior Analyst, 34, 75–91.

Morris, E. K., Altus, D. E., & Smith, N. G. (2013). A study in the founding of applied behavior analysis through its publications. The Behavior Analyst, 36, 70–104.