Valerie Smith is the 15th president of Swarthmore College, where her priorities have included strengthening and expanding initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion; supporting curricular innovation; improving the campus’s facilities and infrastructure; ensuring the College fulfills its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.
President Smith’s commitment to sustainability is also reflected in the College’s carbon charge program and the President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship program. The fellowships match motivated students with small teams of staff and faculty mentors to research, develop, and implement high-impact sustainability projects in a yearlong course and associated internship.
Smith is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of the American Council on Education.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bates College, she earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Virginia.
