Dr. Rodney D. Smith College of the Bahamas

Appointed in 2004 as President of the College of the Bahamas, Dr. Rodney D. Smith faced the challenge of transforming that institution to a vibrant university system spread over multiple campuses on the island nation. The intention was also for the new system to break the tradition of primarily serving recent secondary school graduates, and develop curricula for students of other ages as they returned to higher education for advanced training. Dr. Rodney D. Smith was well-prepared for the challenge, as he had been serving as President of Ramapo College in New Jersey, which serves a highly diverse student population of about 6,000.

Before his 2001 inauguration as President of Ramapo College, Dr. Rodney Smith spent nearly 10 years at Virginia's Hampton University in positions with ever-increasing responsibility. He joined the university in 1992 as the Director of the Academic Support and Assessment Center; within a year, he accepted the position of Dean of Students and an Assistant Professorship. When offered Ramapo's presidency, he had risen to the position of Vice President for Planning at Hampton University and Dean of the Graduate College.

After earning his BA in Psychology and his MA in Clinical and Educational Psychology, Dr. Rodney Smith accepted his first position in the Bahamas in 1976 when he joined the country's Ministry of Education as the Director of School Psychological Services and Senior School Psychologist. He returned to the US in the mid-1980s to attend the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he earned both his EdM. and his EdD.

Currently Hampton University's Vice President for Administrative Services and Professor of Education, Dr. Rodney Smith participates in a broad range of professional activities to further higher education and crystallize its mission. He gives presentations to the academic community and other groups on such topics as team building, leadership, technology, and productivity; a recent presentation to an academic audience was on trends and best practices in student enrollment, retention, and graduation.