Files
Transcript (202 KB)
Description
James Smith is Eastern Michigan University's 23rd president, a role he has been in since 2016. In this interview, Smith recounts how he got into a career in educational policy, his time working in the K-12 public school system, and moving up the ranks from professor, to administrator, to dean, and finally to being a university president. Smith explores his passion for international issues, his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how he came to join the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. Smith describes how he jumped at the chance to open on-campus housing to twelve Afghan families in early 2022, the impacts of this decision, the university’s collaboration with Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw county, and other efforts EMU is undertaking to ensure the campus is welcoming to all.
Interview Date
Winter 2-13-2024
Keywords
President James Smith, Eastern Michigan University, Educational policy, education, teacher, administrator, president, public school, international students, refugees, Afghanistan, Oral History
Permission to Use
Permission to quote from this oral history should be requested from the University Archives (lib_archives@emich.edu).
Copyright
Copyright to the audio resource and its transcript is held by the content creator, author, artist or other entity, and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any other format without written permission of the copyright owner, Eastern Michigan University Archives (lib_archives@emich.edu).
Recommended Citation
Mitchell, Cassandra and Vincent-Fix, Finn, "President James Smith, Oral History Interview, 2024" (2024). Oral Histories. 167.
https://commons.emich.edu/oral_histories/167