Armstrong State University recently hired Dr. Robert T. Smith, a veteran academic administrator, as provost and vice president for academic affairs. In his new position, Smith oversees all academic divisions, faculty, instruction and research affairs at Armstrong.   

Before joining Armstrong, Smith served as the dean of the School of Science and Mathematics at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. In this position since 2009, he acted as the school’s chief academic officer, providing vision, planning, leadership and advocacy. He also advocated diverse hiring practices while supporting faculty and overseeing recruitment and retention initiatives for science and mathematics majors.

A mathematics professor since 1982, Smith has enjoyed teaching and research appointments at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech and the U.S. Army Ballistics Research Laboratory. Over the years, he has earned a number of honors and awards for teaching and has published numerous mathematics textbooks.

Leadership roles include a position as chair of the advisory board for the Innovation Transfer Network, a regional group of colleges, universities and non-profits in Pennsylvania. He also previously served as a member of the Pennsylvania Transfer Articulation Oversight Committee and was appointed by the Pennsylvania Board of Education to a state panel on the Common Core mathematic standards.

Originally from Philadelphia, Penn., Smith earned Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics from the University of Delaware and a certificate from the Institute for Management and Leadership in Education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. He also earned a B.S. in Mathematics and a B.A. in German from Widener College.

Smith is a member of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences, the Council on Undergraduate Research, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America.