"In the late 60's I worked for the company that designed SITN's system, Genesys Systems. I was in New York, and had done work at the World Trade Center and other big corporations, when the company sent me to work on Stanford's system." At that time Genesys handled all the remote sites, but in the 1980's, Stanford decided to offer full service from the classroom to the company site.

"Stanford wanted to be in control of quality," says Smith. "If there were problems at a company site, they wanted someone who knew the system, understood the technology and could take care of things. They knew me, my background, what I did, and offered me the job. When I arrived in 1985, I just covered the receiving sites. I worked my way up, got into the transmitter portion as well, and here I am."

The work itself remains Smith's first love about the job. "I was a television technician and when I came to this country I was intrigued about learning these things-microwave equipment and transmitters, for instance. I love learning and the work that I do," he says; then he adds, "It's fun, too. I work with smart, good people. The fact is, you can learn a lot from people here."