March 29, 2024

CSM’s Smith Earns Leadership Award

Leadership Award

Dorothea Smith, a College of Southern Maryland trustee, has been selected as the 2017 recipient of the Trustee Leadership Award for the Northeast Region by the Association of Community College Trustees. The announcement was made by the ACCT on July 25.

“The College of Southern Maryland is honored by this national recognition of the accomplishments of trustee Dorothea Smith,” CSM President Dr. Maureen Murphy said. “Her commitment to service to the college and its communities serves as a model for us all.”

Ms. Smith is set to receive the award during ACCT’s Leadership Congress on Sept. 25-28. As the recipient for the region, Smith has been told by the ACCT that she will be the region’s nominee for the M. Dale Ensign Trustee Leadership Award. This annual award honors a person who has made a significant contribution as a lay trustee toward promoting the community college concept.

Ms. Smith was appointed as a trustee to the college’s board in 2007 and has since served two terms as chair and two terms as vice chair. Her service as a trustee will end in 2018. Ms. Smith is a graduate of Bowie State University with Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees. She began her 30-year teaching career in 1965 in the Charles County public schools.

Ms. Smith is a past recipient of the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award presented by The Washington Post, and of the Charles County Teacher of the Year Award. As a language arts-reading teacher of middle school students, Ms. Smith also held various positions on the executive board of the Education Association of Charles County. She was the faculty representative to the teacher association for John Hanson Middle School.

Since she retired, Ms. Smith has been an active member of a variety of civic and community organizations, including serving as a county appointee on the Board of Appeals and the Citizens Advisory Committee on the Waldorf Upgrade/Bypass Study. She is currently a member of the Charles County Retired School Personnel Association, Charles County Sheriff’s Citizens Advisory Committee, Antique Arts Association and Kiwanis Club of Waldorf as well as its foundation board of directors. She also serves as president of the African American Heritage Society of Charles County Inc.

Her leadership in education earned her the Verizon Community Innovator Award in February.

As a CSM trustee, Ms. Smith is a member of the board of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges and serves on its Executive Committee. She has also served on the board’s legislative committee.

The ACCT supports the governing boards of community college in their efforts to govern and create policies that focus on meeting the needs of a community. The group’s membership includes 6,000 individual trustees representing 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges. For information about ACCT, visit its website.

CSM’s Board of Trustees is the governing body that provides leadership and oversight of the college’s mission and policies. Members are appointed for five-year terms by the governor. For information about CSM’s leadership, visit the board’s website.

For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit its Leader member page.

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