Erlene M. Smith is an Instructor of English who received her B.S. and M. Ed. from the University of Southern Mississippi.  She has been teaching at Pearl River Community College since 1991.  Before coming to the River, she taught English at Poplarville Junior-Senior High School for eleven years.

She serves as one of the English Faculty Advisors for the PRCC literary magazine The Magic River.  During the past three years, she has been a part of three research programs:  Alternative Learning Styles, Cooperative Learning, and Creative Controversy.

She is a fellow of the South Mississippi Writing Project and she enjoys going to writing retreats at St. Augustine Retreat in Bay St. Louis.  During the summer of 1993, she attended St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, through Breadloaf and Middlebury College, Vermont, where she studied Native American Literature.

She resides in Poplarville, with her husband, Harold S. Smith, who is a retired Poplarville Postmaster.  She has four children--two sons, Brant and Barry, who live in Poplarville; and two daughters--Sharon Bayles, who lives in Prentiss, and Stacy, who lives in Laurel.  Erlene and Harold have been blessed with three granddaughters:  Brittany, Natalie, and Kelli; and a grandson, Coulter Smith.

Mrs. Smith writes:  "In my opinion, teaching is a very exciting and rewarding career. I enjoy being with students and helping them learn."