Jimmy Smith, a kinesiology professor who devotes countless hours to dog rescue efforts, has received the 2012 William Carrington Finch Award from Southwestern University.

The award is given every other year to a full-time faculty member “for exemplary accomplishment in furthering the aims of Southwestern University.” Criteria for the award include excellence in teaching, contributions to university governance, and contributions outside the classroom. It is presented at Commencement and includes a $5,000 prize. The award is named for Southwestern’s 11th president.

Smith has been a member of the Southwestern faculty since 1991. He has served as chair of the Kinesiology Department, chair of the Social Sciences Division and chair of the Academic Affairs Council. In 2011, he was elected the first faculty representative to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Smith has been involved with Boxer rescue groups for more than 13 years and co-teaches a popular First-Year Seminar about dogs. His contributions to Southwestern and the community were previously recognized in 2011 when he received the Joe S. Mundy Exemplary Service Award.

Smith received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Baylor University and his  Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. He lives in Georgetown with his wife, Francie Larrieu Smith, who also is a faculty member at Southwestern.

William Carrington Finch was a member of the faculty at Southwestern from 1941 to 1950 and served as president from 1950 to 1961. The Finch Award was made possible by a gift from his wife, Lucy Finch, and their two sons, Dr. William Tyree Finch and Dr. Richard Carrington Finch.

Previous recipients of the Finch Award are Walt Herbert (1980), Weldon Crowley (1982), Ellsworth Peterson (1984), Leonard Giesecke (1986), Martha Allen (1988), Jan Dawson (1990), Robert Soulen (1992), Gwen Kennedy Neville (1994), Doug Hooker (1996), Ed Kain (1998), Vicente Villa (2000), Patrick Veerkamp (2002), Dan Hilliard (2004), Jesse Purdy (2006), Laura Hobgood-Oster (2008) and Kenny Sheppard (2010).