John "Wesley" Smith II
Title of Program:Beloved Community Development
E-mail Address: jsmit511@vols.utk.edu
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Year: Senior
Anticipated Graduation Date: May 2021
Description of Program: The Beloved Community Development program is grounded in the values of agape love and universal justice, communicated through Dr. King’s vision of the “beloved community”, combined with the academic discipline of community development, defined by the International Association for Community Development as "a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice, through the organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities”. The specific academic focus on this program combines urban social geography, sociology of education, and public policy.
Analyzing development patterns at the urban scale makes them more conceivable. People can relate to local economies more than the complex global economy. This gives agency to researchers and city residents alike. The goal of the program is to understand the historical and contemporary forces shaping the city. Everything from early colonialism to modern gentrification is fair game. Demystifying these seemingly complex processes enables city residents to work collaboratively. Specifically, it enables city residents to create just and sustainable development patterns through participatory democracy and people-powered change.
Departmental Emphases and Foundational Classes: Geography: GEOG 446: The Livable City, GEOG 442: Urban Spaces/Urban Society, GEOG 441: Cities as Economic Engines, GEOG 363: Southern Spaces and Places, GEOG 311: Geovisulaization/Geographic Information Sciences
Sociology: SOCI 463: Community Sociology, SOCI 442: Comparative Poverty and Development, SOCI 431: Participatory Action Research, SOCI 345: Social Movements
Education: CSE 545: Sociology of Education, CSE 200: Survey of International Education, CFS 106: Introduction to Early Childhood Education
Public Policy: POLS 461: Comparative Public Policy, POLS 441: Public Budgeting
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert Kronick
Plans after graduation (career, graduate/professional school, etc.): After graduation, I will remain in Knoxville for another year, working with the university, local government, and/or local non-profits. I may pursue advanced degrees after getting some work experience.
I am interested in place-based and human-oriented development. Eventually, I want to work somewhere like the Center for Transformative Placemaking at Brookings or the Project for Public Spaces. Eventually, I hope to settle in my hometown of Nashville, working to advance justice through sustainable development.
Other Academic Interests: I am also interested in the social gospel of Jesus Christ, the livable city movement, southern culture and politics, community organization, history, and the Civil Rights movement, to name a few.
Research Experiences or Internships: In January 2021, I began an internship with the University of Tennessee’s office of Institutional Effectiveness. Under the supervision of Dr. Katie Singer, Director of Strategic Planning and Policy, I will assist in re-imagining the UT strategic plan. Specifically, I will be organizing student engagement in the plan and analyzing local/regional state trends impacting the university.
Also, in 2021, I began working with Justice Knox’s affordable housing committee. The committee is working with the city to establish the city’s first affordable housing trust fund through participatory research and grassroots organizing. Justice Knox is an interdenominational coalition of faith leaders and congregants in Knoxville.
I was in the 2019 cohort of the Southern Education Leadership Initiative through the Southern Education Foundation. SELI recruits students from across the country and orients them to the long struggle for education equity in the south. Through SELI, I was placed with UnifiEd in Chattanooga. At UnifiEd, I reimagined Building Power for Change, designing, and piloting an introductory workshop for would-be members. I continued conducting research and dialogue through the Action Plan for Educational eXcellence (APEX). UnifiEd sparked my interest in community organizing for social change.
For a year, I served as a research assistant on the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board through the U.S. Department of Commerce. I co-authored and edited white papers and policy briefs related to automation, employer-led data, and gaps in federal surveys, contributing to “America’s Workforce-Based Training Data Infrastructure: Assessment and Recommendations” presented to the board on 26 June 2020.
As a student assistant at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, I founded the Vols Vote initiative, working to register and engage UT students in civic issues. I also conducted asset mapping in three Tennessee counties to address the opioid crisis.
Through the College Scholars program, I have conducted research projects in three Knoxville elementary schools. The projects focused on public policy, education, and sociological related topics including policy briefs to get a school on the capital projects list, field notes at community schools, and working with students on a project to realize their agency in the classroom.
Part-time employment; Hobbies; Campus Clubs/Activities: In my free time, I enjoy listening to music, hanging out with friends, and playing pick-up sports. I am my best self at the lake with dogs and good company. I have recently picked up the guitar and have a lot to learn. I spend too much time watching sports, especially the Predators, Titans, and Vols (of course!).
