Miami University

1/09/09

James M. Smith, who earned his doctorate in educational leadership and his undergraduate degree in elementary education from Miami University, has been named president of Northern State University, Aberdeen, S.D.

Smith, who will assume the duties of president July 1, is currently vice president for economic development at Bowling Green State University. Previously, he was dean of Bowling Green’s Firelands campus. He also served in administrative capacities at West Texas A&M University and Butler University and as a school administrator in central and southwest Ohio.

Northern State University, a residential liberal arts institution, has 2,200 students and offers 38 majors and nine graduate programs plus associate degree and pre-professional programs.

His research and teaching interests focus primarily on school reform, school reorganization, and the impacts of high-stakes testing on at-risk youth. An author of many publications, Smith continues to lecture and publish scholarly findings targeted at overall school improvement and school reform.

Smith earned his Ph.D. from Miami in 1988 and his B.S. in elementary education, also from Miami, in 1979. His wife, Connie Ruhl-Smith, earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Miami in 1991, her master of education from Miami in 1978, and her B.S. in elementary education in 1972. She is associate vice provost for professional development at Bowling Green.