Faculty, staff, and alumni gathered in the atrium of the Irving Institute on Sept. 9 to honor and celebrate Elizabeth F. Smith, who stepped down as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on Sept. 1.
Smith, a cell biologist and the Paul M. Dauten Professor of Biological Sciences, served as dean for eight years, from 2017 through her recent transition back to the faculty. The celebration brought together an impressive array of Dartmouth leaders, including interim Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean John Carey; former President Philip J. Hanlon ’77; former Board of Trustees Chair Laurel Richie ’81; Tuck School of Business Dean Matthew Slaughter; former Geisel School of Medicine Dean Duane Compton; former Thayer School of Engineering Dean Alexis Abramson (now dean of Columbia’s Climate School); and many distinguished faculty members, including professors Donald Pease and Vievee Francis.
President Sian Leah Beilock and faculty colleagues praised Smith’s leadership and collaborative approach.
“As dean, you have been a constant advocate for a massive Arts and Sciences community: more than 600 faculty across 40 departments and programs,” Beilock said, via written remarks read by Carey. “Across every initiative and program, the common thread is your commitment to expanding what is possible, for our faculty and institution as a whole—from bringing more transparency to tenure review, to providing more support for associate deans and department chairs, to helping create new, inspired spaces at the Hood, Anonymous Hall, Dartmouth Hall, and more.”
Pease, the Ted and Helen Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities, praised Smith’s collaborative, unifying leadership style. “In carrying out decanal responsibilities, Dean Elizabeth Smith rejected the reduction of institution-wide questions into the invidious grasp of an ‘either/or’ and challenged the faculty to abandon the presumption that our differences must perforce entail vindictive opposition,” he said.
Francis, an award-winning poet, wrote and recited a poem in Smith’s honor as a gift of appreciation from Arts and Sciences faculty.
Undergraduate Research Fund Established in Smith’s Honor
Gerald Kaminsky ’61, a longtime friend of Smith’s, led the creation of the Elizabeth F. Smith 1973a Undergraduate Research Fund, which will provide ongoing support for undergraduate research projects.
“Two of Dartmouth’s critical competitive strengths are its small size and sense of place,” says Kaminsky. “Soon after Elizabeth assumed her role as dean, she and I discussed how these strengths could help her pursue one of her major objectives: increasing student/faculty research projects. Throughout her years as dean, she worked tirelessly to accelerate these projects.”
Kaminsky felt it was a privilege to help establish the fund. “When I was approached to have the honor of ensuring there would be an endowment in her name—one that would focus upon undergraduate student/faculty work—it was not a question of doing so, but only how fortunate I was to ensure that she would be honored and known forever for her great work on something so meaningful to her.”
Visionary Leadership
During her time as dean, Smith oversaw significant changes and improvements across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Among her many accomplishments, she helped bring more transparency to the tenure review process, strengthened the division’s sexual misconduct policy, and secured funding for the arts and humanities and the E.E. Just Program.
Smith also led the successful pivot to remote undergraduate learning during the pandemic; oversaw major upgrades of academic facilities, including renovations of Dartmouth Hall, Anonymous Hall, Thornton Hall, and Reed Hall; and helped create positions that have provided support for faculty in areas ranging from faculty development to communications.
One of her most significant achievements was facilitating the transition of five interdisciplinary programs into full departments: African and African American Studies; Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages; Environmental Studies; Linguistics; and Native American and Indigenous Studies.
Smith also founded and co-led the Dialogue Project, which trains students, faculty, and staff in collaborative dialogue skills. The initiative continues as part of Dartmouth Dialogues, an institution-wide effort to strengthen the culture of respectful discussion across differences.
“You exemplify the qualities that set us apart,” Beilock said. “You have been a long-time champion of dialogue across differences and promoting free expression on our campus.”
Most recently, Smith initiated and led the historic merger of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Division of Student Affairs in July, creating a new unified administrative and budgetary structure.
“Over these past two years, as we embarked on this historic mission to unify our structure … your leadership was indispensable—creating a rigorous process that engaged our faculty and staff to examine the possibilities, and laying the foundation for this new structure,” Beilock said.
Continued Service
Smith, who joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1998 and previously served as associate dean of the sciences and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, will continue to serve the Dartmouth community as a professor and in a new role as executive director for faculty engagement for Dartmouth Dialogues.
“I’m thrilled you will remain focused on this work—training a new generation with the empathy, courage, and well-rounded perspective they need to lead,” Beilock said.
Smith, who was formally adopted as an honorary member of the Class of 1973 in 2023, addressed the gathering with gratitude and a call to action.
“To say that it has been an honor and privilege to serve the faculty is also an understatement and sounds so cliché, but it is true. This has been a period of enormous personal growth for me and I have learned so much from each of you,” she said.
“One final word to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, maybe a rallying cry: Please, stay engaged, don’t ever give up hope for all that we believe in—the principles and core values of an education in the liberal arts tradition.”