Adjunct Faculty
Joseph W. Smith III is a speaker, teacher and writer in Central PA.
In addition to his current work as adjunct professor in Film Studies for Lycoming, he also teaches literature at the CHEF home-school co-op in Montoursville. Earlier in his long career, Joe covered public-school English in Central New Jersey and Lewisburg, PA, before settling in for more than 25 years at Loyalsock High School in Williamsport.
He also writes regular features for several print and online venues, including Webb Weekly, the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Frayed Passport, northcentralpa.com and West Branch Life—specializing in movies, books, music and travel. Joe has likewise penned eight books—highlighted by studies of Hitchcock’s Psycho, the Bible, under-the-radar-movies and a how-to on MLA research writing.
Having taken courses at six colleges—including Harvard and Manhattan’s New School—he holds a bachelor’s from Syracuse and an MA from New York University. In the 1980s, Joe spent five years as staff copy editor for Simon & Schuster in New York City.
He serves as clerk, officer and adult Sunday school teacher at New Life Presbyterian Church in Montoursville and plays trumpet for Williamsport’s world-famous Repasz Band.
Joe grew up in a movie household, with a father whose 68-year journalism career included decades of reviewing films—on which jaunts he was often accompanied by an ever-eager son. Throughout his youth, Joe saw new movies almost every week, and was sometimes able to join his father on interviews and press junkets with such figures as Stephen King, Cary Grant, George Burns, Rock Hudson, Burt Reynolds, Woody Allen and Jack Nicholson.
He is fascinated not only by the history and discipline of cinema, but also by the medium’s ability to convey ideas; to provoke discussion; to reveal cultural trends & shifts; and in particular, to evoke the beauty and wonder of human life in this amazing world.
Joe’s other interests include biking, craft beer, the Buffalo Bills, swimming, smooth jazz, seventies pop, train travel, wildlife photography and trying to read 150 books a year.