Valerie Smith

Quick Facts

Full Name	Valerie Smith
Occupation	Academic
Date Of Birth	Feb 19, 1956(1956-02-19)
Age	68
Birthplace	Brooklyn
Country	United States
Horoscope	Pisces

Valerie Smith Biography

Valerie Smith is one of the most popular and richest Academic who was born on February 19, 1956 in Brooklyn, United States. Valerie Smith was born on February 19, 1956, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, W. Reeves Smith, was a professor of biology at Long Island University, and her mother, Josephine Smith, a public school teacher; both moved from Charleston, South Carolina to New York. She has said of her time in Brooklyn: “I grew up in a family that really valued knowledge, but also, growing up in Brooklyn, I grew up in an environment where I enjoyed the cultural riches of an urban environment.”

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she is a graduate of Bates College and the University of Virginia. She taught at Princeton University from 1980 to 1989 and at University of California, Los Angeles from 1989 to 2000. In 2001, Smith returned to Princeton upon being appointed the director of Princeton’s African-American studies program. From 2006 to 2009, Smith was the founding director of Princeton’s interdisciplinary Center for African American Studies. In July 2011, the university’s president appointed Smith the Dean of the College, tasked with “Princeton’s undergraduate curriculum, residential college system, and admission and financial aid offices.” While at the university as dean, she removed numerical targets for the university’s grading policy, expanded socioeconomic diversity, created an international residential college exchange program, and created the Office of Undergraduate Research of Princeton University.

In 2001, she returned to Princeton where she was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and Professor of English and African American Studies, as well as the founding director of the Center for African American Studies. A year later she was asked to serve as the director of the university’s African American Studies program eventually turning into an academic center in 2006. Smith created a postdoctoral fellows program and established a distinguished visiting scholars program at the academic center. In 2004, she was chosen to give the keynote address for Princeton’s observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Smith lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. She has served as trustee of her alma mater Bates College (2004-2015), the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, and the McCarter Theater Center.

She began teaching at Princeton University in 1980 where she held appointments in the departments of English and African-American studies. After teaching for nine years at Princeton, Smith went to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was appointed a professor in the English department. Smith along with Emory Elliott, Margaret Doody, and Sandra Gilbert all resigned from Princeton in 1989. The reports suggest that the four were unhappy with the leniency shown to Thomas McFarland after he was accused of sexual misconduct. McFarland was initially put on a one-year suspension, but eventually took early retirement after these resignations and threats of student boycotts. She moved to University of California, Los Angeles that year and was appointed in the English department. While at the University of California, Los Angeles, she served as the Chair of the Interdepartmental Program in African-American Studies and Co-Director of Cultural Studies in the African Diaspora Project until 2000.

Valerie Smith Net Worth

Valerie Smith is one of the richest Academic from United States. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Valerie Smith 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

Valerie Smith (born February 19, 1956) is an American academic administrator, professor, and scholar of African-American literature and culture. She is the 15th and current president of Swarthmore College.

She attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn. At the age of 15, she enrolled at Bates College where she majored in English literature and graduated Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude in 1975. She described her experience at the college as “nurturing” and studied abroad in England at Oxford University. She completed her graduate work at the University of Virginia, eventually earning M.A. and Ph.D degrees.

Smith is the author of three monographs: Self-Discovery and Authority in Afro- American Narrative (1987), Not Just Race, Not Just Gender: Black Feminist Readings (1998), and Toni Morrison: Writing the Moral Imagination (2012). She is the editor or co-editor of seven books, and the author of over forty articles.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

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Who is Valerie Smith Dating?

According to our records, Valerie Smith is possibily single & has not been previously engaged. As of December 1, 2023, Valerie Smith’s is not dating anyone.

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On October 3, 2015, Smith was inaugurated as the 15th President of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Her position as the first African- American president drew many of the speakers to discuss the growing racial divides in the U.S. and academia. The president of Brown University at the time, Ruth Simmons, noted that “the long shadow of racial and gender bias still lingers in this society and will influence some of what she will experience on a day to day basis.” To a crowd of 1,200, Smith addressed her inauguration by stating:

Facts & Trivia

Valerie Ranked on the list of most popular Academic. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in United States. Valerie Smith celebrates birthday on February 19 of every year.

On February 21, 2015, Princeton announced that Smith was selected by Swarthmore College as their 15th president. Smith remained at Princeton until June 2015.