In 1968, Dr. Smith moved to The Claremont Colleges Consortium as Pomona College's Assistant Dean of Students. She later became Dean of Students at Scripps College , earned a Ph.D. in psychology and higher education from The Claremont Graduate School, and joined the faculties of Scripps and The Claremont Graduate School as an assistant professor of psychology. In 1983, Dr. Smith was appointed Vice President for Planning and Research at Scripps. Dr. Smith's research interests center on diversity in higher education, college governance issues, women in academe, women's colleges, institutional research, student affairs, and classroom teaching. These areas of expertise have been presented in numerous venues as keynote, invited, and plenary addresses.
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Previously, she won the Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award from the Association of Professors in Higher Education. Dr. Smith has also served as a consultant on evaluation, planning, and diversity at a variety of colleges and universities, including institutions as Stanford University, California Institute of the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Santa Monica Community College, Cornell University, Mt. Holyoke College, Santa Clara University, Wellesley College, and Duke University. She also has worked with the Ford, Hewlett, Pew, Spencer, and Irvine Foundations, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and on many Western Association of Schools and Colleges' accreditation teams. When not teaching, writing, addressing, or consulting, she enjoys family, photography, Hawaii, and music.