UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 25, Page 1
March 23, 1995
Roland M. Smith selected student life vice president
Roland McFatridge Smith, vice president for student affairs at
the University of Oklahoma since 1991, has been named the University's
new vice president for student life after a nationwide search,
President David P. Roselle announced early this week.
Smith will assume his new position June 1.
Roselle said he was pleased the UD was able to attract Smith. "He
is committed to making the student experience the very best it can be,
and he brings a very nice range of experiences in student services and
academics to his new position."
On Monday, during a visit to campus, Smith said he was looking
forward to joining the UD community and assuming the responsibilities
and opportunities his new job will offer.
Having spent 17 years at Carnegie-Mellon University in
Pittsburgh, the Texas native said he knew of the University of
Delaware's reputation.
"I knew there was a fine program at Delaware, and this is what
encouraged me to apply for the position," Smith said. "It also is very
strategically located, in relation to the cultural centers in the
Northeast. This also made the position attractive."
The vice president for student life reports to the provost and
is a member of the president's senior staff. As the UD's chief student
life officer, the vice president provides leadership to and direction
for the offices of Admissions, Financial Aid, Career Services,
Counseling and Student Development, Dean of Students, Residence Life,
Student Health Service, Student Centers and Student Services for
Athletes.
Betty J. Paulanka, dean of the College of Nursing, was head of
the search committee, whose members represented a broad cross-section
of the campus community. Several members were students.
Smith said Monday there are three areas he considers important to
student life at Delaware and nationally, including:
* Providing supportive services that will enhance the
environment for student learning, such as centers for
learning, health, counseling and career planning and
placement;
* Offering programs and services that help students develop
their talents and abilities to the fullest, in the areas of
leadership, team building, mediation and interpersonal and
intergroup relations skills; and
* Providing programs and activities that contribute or enhance
a sense of community or collegiality throughout the campus
community.
In these areas, Smith said, UD is in "excellent shape. My
challenge will be to build on the considerable strengths that the
University already has."
At Oklahoma, Smith has had full budget, program and operating
responsibilities for such support services as recruitment, residential
life and housing, the Oklahoma Memorial Union, the Student Health
Service, student employment, Career Planning and Placement, commuter
students, student publications, counseling and testing, learning
support, minority student programming, handicapped students,
international students, Dean of Students and the Students'
Association.
Under his leadership there, a "strategic-targeted" approach to
recruiting was developed that succeeded in stabilizing overall
enrollment at a time when the number of Oklahoma high school graduates
was declining. This approach also resulted in significant enrollment
increases for all minority student categories.
Before going to Oklahoma, Smith was affiliated with the
University of Houston for six years, serving as associate vice
chancellor for program support, associate vice president for program
support and three years as vice president for student affairs.
In his last five years at Carnegie-Mellon, he was associate
provost for academic affairs, participating in the implementation of
an information and telecommunications systems. He also worked to
increase the number of minorities in graduate programs and raised more
than $1 million in grants from federal agencies, foundations and
corporations to fund scholarship programs for minority students.
His other posts at Carnegie-Mellon included assistant to the
president, professor in the history department and director of field
trials and evaluations. From 1962-69, he was a secondary school
teacher in Houston. An Army veteran, he served for three and a half
years with NATO forces in Germany.
A cum laude graduate of Prairie View A&M College, he received his
master's and doctoral degrees in history from Carnegie-Mellon
University.
Smith is the co-author of the books, The Faces of America: A
History of the United States and Living in an Urban World: A 10th
Grade World Cultures Course for Slow-Learning Students, and he has
written articles and reviews for professional journals.
Smith said he has had opportunities to teach at several
institutions while working in student life. He said he found the
classroom experiences enjoyable and satisfying. His interest is in
American history, particularly the Civil War and the Reconstruction.
Smith's professional activities have included chairing the
Council for Student Affairs of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher
Education, serving on the Region IV-West Advisory Board of the
National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and
serving on the National Association of State Universities and Land-
Grant Colleges' Council on Student Affairs.
He is a member of the American Historical Association, the
American Management Association, the Association for the Study of Afro-
American Life and History, the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, NASPA, the National Council for the
Social Studies, the Organization of American Historians and the
Southern Historical Association, among others.
In addition to Paulanka, members of the search committee were
Kathryn Emery, president of Panhellenic; Ronald Lieberman, president
of the Delaware Undergraduate Student Congress (DUSC); Michael
Piacente, president of the Interfraternity Council; Maxine Colm, vice
president for employee relations; Araya Debessay, professor of
accounting; Pierre Hayward, vice president and University secretary;
Barbara Kelly, professor of physical education; Barbara Kreppel,
assistant vice president; Kenneth Lomax, associate professor of
agricultural engineering; David Pong, chairperson of the Department of
History; and Michael Vaughan, assistant dean of the College of
Engineering and director of its Resources to Insure Successful
Engineers (RISE) program.
John Cavanaugh, American Council on Education fellow in the
Office of the President, served as staff assistant to the committee.