Less than a year after being named interim president of Harris-Stowe State University, LaTonia Collins Smith was yesterday appointed to the permanent role.
Trustees cited Collins Smith’s performance in fundraising and student success, specifically the university’s receipt of more than $3 million in scholarships and grants.
“Dr. Collins Smith exemplifies Harris-Stowe’s core values of Personal Growth, Respect, Innovation, Diversity, and Excellence. She has demonstrated her extraordinary ability to connect with all of our stakeholders and to catapult Harris-Stowe forward in these critical times,” said HSSU Board Chair Michael McMillan.
Over a 12-year career at HSSU, Collins Smith has worked as an adjunct professor, directed the institution’s center on career engagement and academic advising, and as provost. According to a release, she served as the co-principal investigator of a $5 million National Science Foundation grant to strengthen STEM in the state of Missouri and serves as chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Statewide Celebration Commission of Missouri.
