KELLI K. SMITH, PH.D.
Director-College
Kelli K. Smith, Ph.D., is a Director-College on the 2022-23 NACE Board of Directors.
Dr. Smith serves as the assistant vice president for student success within the Division of Student Affairs at Binghamton University. This follows her role as the founding director of the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development at Binghamton and working at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Georgetown, and several other universities over the last 29 years.
Dr. Smith’s portfolio includes oversight of the Fleishman Center, the Center for Civic Engagement, and Student Transition and Success, which she created with existing resources to better serve Binghamton students. She is also an adjunct faculty member in both the School of Management and the Student Affairs master's program.
Dr. Smith regularly partners with Academic Affairs on student success-related projects, such as working on elevating high-impact practices for students, helping oversee the division's first diversity strategic plan, and leading the creation of the Common Read program, now going into its third year.
She currently serves on the boards of the Ross Park Zoo and study abroad company CEA, and recently co-chaired the NACE Strategic Positioning of Career Services Task Force. Other NACE involvement includes co-chairing the NACE Professional Standards Task Force, serving as a NACE Ambassador and blogger, being a NACE LAP participant, and serving as a member of the initial First Destination Survey Task Force. Dr. Smith also co-chaired the 2018 Global Career Services Summit in Newcastle, United Kingdom. Additionally, she has conducted numerous presentations and published within the field, including serving as editor for two Wiley New Directions books related to career services.
Inspired by being a Pell-grant recipient and first-generation college student herself, Dr. Smith created the first campus pantry at UNL and its first internship scholarship program, and she helped champion the creation of Binghamton’s B-First mentoring program. Under her leadership, graduate career outcomes metrics exceeded the campus strategic planning goal three years early and the Fleishman Center has won numerous state, national, and global awards, including the top “Exemplary Career Center” award granted by NCDA.
Dr. Smith holds a master’s degree from Indiana University-Bloomington and a Ph.D. in leadership studies from UNL.