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Alumna named Rio Salado College’s fifth president

Alumna Kate Smith named Rio Salado College’s fifth president

University of Rochester Warner School of Education alumna Kate Smith ‘94W (MS) has been appointed the next president of Rio Salado College in Tempe, Arizona, effective May 15.

Smith, who has been serving as Rio Salado’s interim president since August 2018, joined Rio Salado in 2016 as the vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer. In this role she was responsible for adult basic education, community development and partnerships, continuing education, curriculum, early college, faculty, library services, the honors program, incarcerated re-entry programs, institutional research and effectiveness, instructional design, instruction helpdesk, military programs, online and hybrid/blended learning, certificates and degrees and corporate and government partnerships.
 
Prior to her tenure at Rio Salado, Smith served as the dean of the academic foundations division at Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, N.Y. She studied in the mathematics education program at the Warner School and taught high school mathematics and served as a consultant to Hobart and William Smith Colleges and local companies on college and career mathematics readiness prior to her work at MCC.
 
Smith is an active education advocate and community leader, serving on boards for the Higher Education Research and Development Institute, Presidents Forum, The Taskforce on Higher Education and Opportunity, Friends of Public Radio Arizona, Phoenix East Valley Board of Directors, and is the co-chair for the Arizona Mexico Commission’s Education Committee.