{"id":37036,"date":"2025-04-04T09:59:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T13:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=37036"},"modified":"2025-04-04T09:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T13:59:53","slug":"scott-hendersons-heart-for-students-earns-him-the-jim-smart-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/scott-hendersons-heart-for-students-earns-him-the-jim-smart-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Henderson\u2019s heart for students earns him the Jim Smart Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott Henderson<\/span><\/a>, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Education, received the Jim Smart Award at a reception on April 1, 2025 in the Daniel Chapel Garden Room.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But when he was told he had won the award a few weeks earlier, he didn\u2019t believe it. Representatives from Furman University\u2019s <\/span>Cothran Center<\/span><\/a> visited him while he was teaching a class to give him the news, and he assumed they were presenting an award to one of his students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s that humility and readiness to celebrate his students\u2019 successes that earned him this honor. Henderson joined Furman\u2019s Education Department in 1998; before that he taught social studies in Chesapeake City, Virginia and English at Yamagata Women\u2019s Junior College in Japan. He is the director of national and international scholarships and serves as an academic advisor.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The award celebrates the memory of <\/span>Jim Smart<\/span><\/a>, who taught history at Furman from 1967 to1995. Honorees embody certain values, said <\/span>John Harris<\/span><\/a>, Cothran Center faculty director: A passion for helping students add depth and meaning to their lives and the decisions they make while in college, encouraging students to consider their fundamental values and life choices and providing a hospitable space for students to explore these concepts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Henderson \u2018a mentor and a true friend\u2019<\/h3>\n
\"Two

Public health major Julie Galie \u201926, left, and educational studies major Liv Fletcher \u201925 speak highly of education Professor Scott Henderson in front of a crowd at the Jim Smart Award reception April 1, 2025. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Henderson seemed an obvious fit for this award to public health major Julie Galie \u201926, one of the students who nominated him. After coming to Furman from Washington, D.C., Galie said he was \u201cpivotal in making me feel welcome in the Greenville area.\u201d She struggled to find her balance between her rigorous studies and being a student athlete on the women\u2019s soccer team, but he helped her find her passion for public health. She\u2019s heading into a summer internship at Prisma Health thanks to his guidance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019d be the person I am today without his help and guidance,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caitlin Witherow \u201926, a math major from Brandon, Florida, sent a video statement to Henderson\u2019s award reception since she is studying in New Zealand. She said the professor listens to students\u2019 feedback and incorporates it into his teaching, reflecting the issues and concerns important to them. He\u2019s also their biggest cheerleader.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe sends out emails to recognize student successes, whether that\u2019s across athletics, academics or professional developments,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Henderson stood, listening to these words of praise, he said it was a reminder of the impact Furman\u2019s faculty and staff have on students\u2019 lives. The encouraging words mentors share every day are often remembered years, even decades later, and \u201csuch encouragement can change or confirm someone\u2019s path in life, an impact that a teacher or mentor is not always aware of at the time.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Liv Fletcher \u201925, had trouble with a \u201cless-than-accepting\u201d roommate, Henderson helped advocate for Fletcher and made her feel supported. He told her that \u201cno one should make you feel like you should move or change to feel safe.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been more than my academic advisor or my professor, he\u2019s been a mentor and a true friend,\u201d said Fletcher, an educational studies major and Furman Pride Alliance President from Atlanta. \u201cI know I\u2019m not alone in feeling so.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporting Furman\u2019s \u2018village\u2019<\/h3>\n

Following the reception, students lined up to personally congratulate Henderson. They had to be patient, as everyone who approached him received a hug, with Henderson eagerly asking about their lives, classwork and friends. Henderson felt \u201cenormously touched,\u201d and that their presence at the reception \u201cconfirmed that most students not only value how much they learn from a teacher, but also how much they value the degree to which a teacher cares about them.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Four

Following the Jim Smart Award Reception on April 1, 2025, students congratulated recipient Scott Henderson, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Education. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Henderson told the crowd he\u2019s always known it takes a village to raise our children, \u201cand we have a lot of great villagers at Furman who are equally deserving of this honor.\u201d As he grows older, he said he finds himself echoing his parents\u2019 lessons from his childhood: \u201cDon\u2019t wait until the last minute,\u201d as his mother used to say, or his father\u2019s advice to find joy by discovering whatever it is he feels compelled to do with his life.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the one lesson that he\u2019s clung to most dearly came from his mother, when he\u2019d come home after late nights out with his twin brother, Rob. She would still be awake, waiting to breathe a sigh of relief and greet them warmly when they returned.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays you can find me occasionally, late at night, sitting at the gates to our village, waiting for a student to return,” he said. “I’ll simply say, \u2018I\u2019m glad you\u2019re back, I was concerned.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his time at Furman, Henderson has earned several honors, including the meritorious teaching and advising awards (2013, 2002), the Chiles-Harrill Award (2011), the South Carolina Governor\u2019s Distinguished Professor Award (2010), the Maiden Invitational Award (2008), and Furman University Teacher of the Year (2002).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Education professor Scott Henderson\u2019s students said he encourages every student to find their passion and enrich their lives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":37025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,28],"tags":[3340,264,450,1868,3339],"class_list":["post-37036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cothran-center-for-vocational-reflection","category-education","tag-award","tag-cothran-center","tag-education","tag-jim-smart","tag-scott-henderson"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37036"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37041,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37036\/revisions\/37041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}