Sad news
August 21, 2019
Message Archive
This email is being sent to all members of the Baruch College faculty.
For an archive of announcements sent from the Associate Provost beginning June 2011, click here.
Dear Colleagues,
We wish to inform you of the recent passing of Dr. Donald Hugh Smith, Professor Emeritus. Dr. Smith held many key positions at Baruch College including Associate Provost, Professor and Chair of the Department of Education, and Director of Open Admissions. He chaired the committee for the creation of the School of Public Affairs and also chaired the college’s Black and Hispanic Faculty Association, and was the founding chair of the CUNY African American Faculty and Staff Network. He also oversaw the Baruch College SEEK Program in its early days.
The Annual Dr. Donald H. Smith Distinguished Lecture series, active from 1995-2014, was created for and featured scholars who specialized in aspects of African and African American history and culture.
Dr. Donald Hugh Smith was a Chicago native. A product of the public school system, Dr. Smith earned a BA at the University of Illinois, an MA at DePaul University, and a Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin. He received an award for superior teaching from the Chicago Board of Education while working at the Wendell Phillips High School, the city’s first predominantly African American high school.
During the civil rights movement, Dr. Smith trained teachers for Dr. Martin Luther King’s literacy program in Chicago. He was the founding director of the Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern Illinois University. He was chair of the University Community Educational Programs at the University of Pittsburgh, where he created the Malcolm Marcus Martin Scholarship.
In 2002, Dr. Smith’s book, Climbin’ Up the Mountain Children: The Journey of an African American Educator, was published. He chaired the New York City Board of Education’s Commission on Students of African Descent and wrote the report, “Dropping Out of School in New York State: The Invisible People of Color.”
Dr. Smith was a past president of the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), and the founding president of their New York chapter. He commissioned NABSE’s seminal report, ”Saving the African American Child.” He was also a founding member and first chair of the Board for the Education of People of African Ancestry. Dr. Smith was U.S. representative of the University of South Africa.
A funeral service is being held for Dr. Smith at Trinity Church on Amsterdam Ave and 153rd St. in Manhattan on Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 2 p.m.
For more information, please contact Professor Arthur Lewin at ramsees7@yahoo.com.
Dr. Arthur Lewin
Chair, Department of Black and Latino Studies