Stephen Smith

Steve is a temporary (year-by-year) full-time instructor in Human Anatomy and has been teaching in various capacities at UCO for over ten years. His Master’s degree is in Biology with a specialization in Human Anatomy. Steve has taught as an assistant for five different human anatomy instructors. He absorbed as much knowledge as possible from each of his mentors (also considered as friends) and tried to incorporate their insight and experience into his concept-based style of teaching. Steve's instructional methodology is different than his predecessors, in that he employs a “manage by walking around” classroom approach. Steve speaks one-on-one with each student many times during every class period. Students respond to instruction better when they know an instructor really cares about them and their understanding of the material. The small class sizes at UCO contribute to the efficacy of this approach to teaching.

His ultimate concern while teaching human anatomy is to produce prepared students that are marketable and productive in the medical community. Steve is not comfortable sending students to advanced-level medical programs without proper exposure to human cadavers and other essential training aides. Students should leave his classroom with an understanding of many Latin terms. Students become proficient with these terms, which aid in locating various structures on human cadavers. Concept-based instruction (instead of rote memorization) helps students construct a thorough understanding of the human body and it's component parts.

Steve is also an instructor for the W. Roger Webb Forensic Science Institute. He teaches Biological and Forensic Anthropology, specializing in Human Osteology.

Human Anatomy (3 sections in Fall and Spring; 2 section in the Summer)

Biological and Forensic Anthropology (Physical Anthropology); (1 section in the Fall and Spring)