Accounting professor Rober Smolin has long been proud of helping students at Citrus learn to handle their money. After 22 years on campus, Smolin has retired.
Smolin will officially retire in 2023 but said he plans to come back as a part-time instructor after spending some quality time with grandchildren.
Smolin said he looks forward to getting back to old hobbies.
“I want to start getting back into music and playing piano, playing music with friends, getting back into working out,” Smolin said in December shortly before his retirement.
Music and fitness aren’t the only things Smolin plans on getting back into during his retirement. Smolin and his wife love cruising and plan to take some much needed vacation time at sea.
Before his retirement, Smolin said his family will be happy to have more time with him. His colleagues said they’re going to miss his presence on campus. Accounting professor Patrick Borja worked with Smolin for 18 years and said he’ll miss seeing Smolin at work helping students.
“He had a way with the students and a way of describing concepts that was impressive,” Borja said. “He brought a lot of real work experience that helped students connect with the concepts.”
Business professor Richard Levi, who started working at Citrus on the exact same day as Smolin, also said he will miss having Smolin around the department.
“I’ll miss his jokes, and he’s always in a good mood and if you need him for something special,” Levi said before Smolin retired.
Levi said Smolin was always willing to lend a helping hand to his colleagues.
“I had to take an accounting class when I was working on my doctorate and it had been years since I had one,” Levi said. “ … He came in on a Friday afternoon and he spent hours explaining these accounting elements, and he just showed how much he would go out of his way to help somebody, me!”
Before Smolin’s retirement, Business professor Bruce Grossman said Smolin would also lend his compassion to his colleagues.
“It would not be uncommon for us to spend a half an hour or 45 minutes at the end of our classes or at the end of our night classes chatting about school, about students, about teaching strategies, about life,” Grossman said. “I’m going to miss that.”
But Smolin will be missed most of all by all the students who won’t get to learn from him and the programs he leads.
As faculty adviser to the Citrus Business Association, Smolin put on business seminars.
“We’ve brought a lot of different speakers from different companies and different industries to share their experiences with students to expose students to all the different job opportunities that they have available to them,” Smolin said before his retirement.
Smolin said his teaching didn’t just come from speakers he brought on campus. His colleagues said Smolin had a unique way of explaining complex concepts to students.
“I’ve been able to evaluate him a few times because you have to be evaluated every three years,” Levi said. “ … I was able to see his approach and how he teaches with the students and their reactions were very positive. So I always thought I know he’s one of the best economics professors I’ve ever been around.”
