Monroe native earns WSU teaching award
Kathryn Smolinski, a Monroe native and a graduate of St. Mary Academy, received the 2023 Wayne State University President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. This year's 10 award recipients were honored during the Academic Recognition Award Ceremony.
Smolinski is the daughter of Sam and Nancy Smolinski of Monroe. She is an associate clinical professor and is the Legal Advocacy for People with Cancer Clinic director for WSU Law School.
The award, said WSU, "recognizes faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to teaching. Since 1977, 308 WSU faculty members have been recognized for their teaching with this award."
“It is truly and honor to receive such a prestigious award. I am blessed to have amazing, dedicated students who want to learn and help the cancer community,” Smolinski said. "Their compassion, wisdom and hard work have made me a better teacher and a better person. My colleagues have been instrumental in supporting me to be the best professor I can be.”
In a letter of support for Smolinski, Christopher Lund, associate dean for research and faculty development, said, “Professor Smolinski not only gives her students training in the law, but she combines it with practical wisdom and a strong sense of justice, engaging her students through innovative instructional practices that help them grow into skilled, thoughtful and compassionate lawyers.”
LAPC is a medical-legal partnership with the Karmanos Cancer Center. It is a six-credit course offering for students to learn how to support patients with cancer in managing legal issues. The clinic grew out of a medical-legal partnership Smolinski created through a two-year Equal Justice Works Fellowship she was awarded while a third-year Wayne Law student, WSU said.
“I have to model compassion for my students, and I also have to be compassionate towards them, because they're going through a lot. They are trying to get through law school and learn what it means to practice law. And I think students who choose this clinic either choose it because it has some meaning for them, whether they had a close friend or family member diagnosed with cancer, or they just want to give back to the community. Or they want to expand their knowledge in different areas of law, but they they're choosing this clinic, because it's something special to them,” Smolinski said.
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Before attending law school, Smolinski worked for 20 years as an oncology social worker, including serving as executive director of the Association of Oncology Social Work and as a senior oncology social worker at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and English and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Wayne Law.
Smolinski describes her teaching style as “very, very interactive.”
In her letter of support for Smolinski’s award, Rebecca Robichaud, assistant (clinical) professor and director of clinical education wrote, “Professor Smolinski brings her expertise in end-of-life planning into the classroom to provide a foundation for students working with very ill patients and their families and loved ones. But her skill goes beyond teaching students the substantive law. Professor Smolinski is very adept at teaching students how to build effective working relationships with clients, how to work through challenging situations such as terminal cancer diagnosis, and how to build skills to have longevity and find joy in a very difficult career.”
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe native earns WSU teaching award
