College Leadership

Martha A. Smith, Ph.D., began her tenure as the fifth president of award-winning Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland, on Aug. 1, 1994.

Under her leadership, the college and its programs have received national and state recognition and awards. The prestigious international League for Innovation in the Community College unanimously selected Anne Arundel Community College in October 2004 as the 20th college represented on its board of directors. As president, Dr. Smith became the fifth woman CEO on the league board.

Anne Arundel Community College is the only community college to have won the National Council for Continuing Education and Training’s Exemplary Program in Workforce Development Award four times -- the latest one in 2006 for its Words for Work program that helps Spanish-speaking students key words and phrases needed to move into better jobs. The Exemplary Program Awards recognize outstanding programs and promote replicable best practices nationally in four categories: continuing education, community services, workforce development and learning technologies.

AACC shared the 2007 Comcast Hall of Fame Business Partnership of the Year award with the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation and the BWI Partnership for the one-stop careers center that provides workforce training information to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport employees, employers and patrons.

AACC received the West Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce’s 2006 “Nonprofit of the Year” award, which recognizes a nonprofit organization that has developed close partnerships with the business community as a way to achieve its overall mission. AACC earned the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce’s 2005 National Achievement Award for strategic planning that has allowed the college to meet both workplace and community needs; award-winning technology allowing students and the public access to its resources; and entrepreneurship education.

In addition, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaffirmed AACC’s accreditation in 2004 and commended the college on its progress to date; the Consortium for Community College Development named AACC as Profile College for Organizational Development in June 2004; the Center for Digital Education awarded AACC first place in its category in national competition on the use of digital technology in 2004; and the BWI Business Partnership Inc. named AACC the 2004 Employer of the Year.

One of the most prestigious honors was when the National Alliance of Business named AACC its 2001 Community College of the Year.

Dr. Smith also has earned a reputation for innovation and creativity. In February 2007, she was named to a three-year term on the board of directors of the American Council on Education, an organization that represents 1,600 college and university presidents and provides leadership and a unifying voice on issues affecting higher education. Former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in May 2005 appointed Dr. Smith to the Maryland Education Council, which represents the state on the national Education Commission of the States. In January 2006, she was invited to serve on that commission’s Post secondary Education and Workforce Development Institute Advisory Committee.

She also serves on the Commission on Adult Learning and Educational Credentials of the American Council on Education, as board member of the Institute for Community College Development at Cornell University, as a charter member of the Educational Testing Service’s National Community College Advisory Council, on the Governor’s Work Force Investment Board, on the executive committee of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges and as a board member of the Greater Baltimore Committee. In May 2007, she joined the board of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce.

Much of AACC’s success has its roots in some of Dr. Smith’s first actions as AACC president. In her inaugural address, she announced her focus on putting “Students First!” which is still the college’s slogan.

The other major achievement of those first years was her work with faculty, staff, students and the community to bring to fruition a five-year strategic plan that charted a clear, focused direction for the future of the college. The two main themes of that first strategic plan underscored the college commitment to meeting community needs and ensuring student success. She has followed up to lead the college to a second five-year strategic plan. The plans reaffirm AACC’s vision as a premier learning institution whose students and graduates are among the best prepared citizens and workers of the world

Dr. Smith has led realignment of the college administrative structure to better meet the needs of students, the workforce and county residents. During her tenure, the college launched a state-of-the-art instructional technology program and forged major business and education training alliances.

She has presided over an extensive, ongoing new building construction and facilities renovation program. For example, the college opened its 97,000-square-feet Center for Applied Learning and Technology Aug. 25, 2004 on the Arnold campus in time for fall classes. AACC opened the four-story AACC at Arundel Mills facility Aug. 4, 2003 and a completely renovated Student Union on the Arnold campus in fall 2003.

Celebrating Dr. Smith's achievements in higher education, the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR) named her its 2006 District Pacesetter of the Year. She was named by the Daily Record as one of the Power Elite in 2003 and one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women three times -- the maximum allowed, in 1998, 2000 and 2002.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner committee named Dr. Smith as one of its 2002 Fannie Lou Hamer Award recipients. The award honors women who keep the feminist and civil rights activist’s legacy alive through their words, deeds and actions.

In April 2001, Dr. Smith shared the National Council for Continuing Education and Training National Leadership Award – Inside the Field with Andrew L. Meyer, Ed. D., AACC vice president for learning, for outstanding leadership in developing continuing education, workforce development, community services and distance learning opportunities. That same year, Dr. Smith co-authored an NCCET abstract on the learning college, "Leveling the Playing Field Through a Commitment to Learning," with Meyer and William J. Flynn, editor of the Catalyst newsletter.

Actively involved with civic and business organizations in Anne Arundel County, Dr. Smith received Anne Arundel County Tech Council’s 2005 Good Apple Award. She also was the Leadership Anne Arundel Flagship program’s 2001 Community Trustee. She chaired the 1999 Anne Arundel County United Way Campaign. The AAACCC named Dr. Smith its Business Leader of the Year for 1996-97 and, in 1995, the YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County honored her as one of the county's First Women in Education.

Dr. Smith came to AACC from Dundalk Community College in Baltimore County, Md., where she served as president for seven years, following six years as dean of students. Under her leadership, Dundalk enrollment grew along with significant increases in minority student enrollment achieved through a college wide diversity plan. She led DCC to complete a comprehensive study of learning and set in motion DCC 2000, a planning process to position the college as an effective institution for learning and student success in the 21st century.

Before Dundalk, Dr. Smith served as vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the College of Saint Teresa in Winona, Minn. She came to Minnesota from the University of Hawaii, where she directed the Hawaii Open Program and served as student services specialist and director. The Hawaii Open Program, a nontraditional delivery system, provided upper-division courses to Hawaii's outer island community colleges.

A native of Bradford, Pa., Dr. Smith earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Northern Colorado, a Master of Education degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Hawaii and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from Slippery Rock State University. She resides in Glen Burnie, Md.