{"id":41836,"date":"2026-04-09T13:44:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=41836"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:44:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:44:46","slug":"paul-wagenknecht-86-calls-his-jim-smart-award-win-my-nobel-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/paul-wagenknecht-86-calls-his-jim-smart-award-win-my-nobel-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Wagenknecht \u201986 calls his Jim Smart Award win \u2018my Nobel Prize\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furman University Professor of Chemistry Paul Wagenknecht<\/a> \u201986 received the 2026 Jim Smart Award at a reception on March 26 in the Daniel Chapel Garden Room.<\/p>\n

The annual award is presented by the Cothran Center<\/a> to celebrate the legacy of Jim Smart<\/a>, who taught history at Furman from 1967 to 1995. It is awarded to honorees who help students add depth and meaning to their life decisions, encourage them to consider their values and provide a hospitable environment for their growth and exploration.<\/p>\n

For Wagenknecht, it seemed funny to get an award for having fun and meaningful conversations with his students. But it\u2019s an honor he takes seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most meaningful recognition I could have received in my career,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is my Nobel Prize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professors share infectious passions with their students<\/h2>\n
\"One

Cothran Center Faculty Director John Harris, right, presents the 2026 Jim Smart Award to chemistry professor Paul Wagenknecht \u201986. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Lizzie McCallum \u201926 wasn\u2019t sure she wanted to take a class with Wagenknecht when she first came to Furman. She had heard he was a tough grader, but it was through his classes that she found her love for chemistry.<\/p>\n

He showed her that \u201cthe exceptions to the rules are where the true nuance of chemistry lies,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom that moment on, chemistry automatically became more fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a chemistry and classics double major, McCallum is an inorganic chemistry research assistant for Wagenknecht. In her time working in his classes and lab, she\u2019s seen his efforts ensuring students have the resources they need to succeed, talking them through difficult decisions and connecting with them on a personal level.<\/p>\n

Chemistry major Samantha Walter \u201926 said Wagenknecht went beyond impacting how students think as scientists and communicators \u2013 he made research fun within a joyful lab environment that made her \u201cgenuinely excited to enter every morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Wag fosters community while helping students produce excellent results, he builds camaraderie without sacrificing the science,\u201d Walter said, \u201cand he truly taught me how to have fun while doing hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Two

Chemistry student Lizzie McCallum ’26 shares her remarks alongside Samantha Walter ’26 at an award reception for professor Paul Wagenknecht ’86. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Seeing the dedication his students bring to their research reminds Wagenknecht of why he came to Furman in the first place: the culture of undergraduate research.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly rewarding for me to see what they are capable of,\u201d he said. \u201cBut 30 years doing this has also taught me that the best part is the relationships that are formed, and what we learn from those relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was a student at Furman, his mentor was chemistry professor Noel Kane-Maguire; it\u2019s a friendship that\u2019s lasted four decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cLikewise, I look forward to staying in touch with my students for decades to come,\u201d Wagenknecht said.<\/p>\n

In his time at Furman, Wagenknecht has won several other awards and honors, including the Council on Undergraduate Research ChemCUR Outstanding Mentorship Award (2022), the South Carolina Governor\u2019s Award for Excellence in Scientific Research (2020) and the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2003).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students said the chemistry professor inspired their love for the central science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":41832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry","category-cothran-center-for-vocational-reflection"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41836","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=41836"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41845,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41836\/revisions\/41845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}