Even though her final days as CEO of NACAC have been in a time of uncertainty, Joyce E. Smith has not wavered from the mission of serving the professionals who serve students.
As people shelter in place due to COVID-19, Smith says her departure as CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) will be low-key. The association gave her a retirement party at last year’s NACAC convention. Now Smith prefers the focus be put on her successor, Dr. Angel B. Pérez.
While Pérez appreciates that sentiment, he is lavish in his praise of Smith and her impact on NACAC and the profession of college admission counseling.
“Joyce really led the organization from this small community of people to now an organization of people all over the world,” says Pérez, currently the vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity College. “She saw the potential for a much larger, more complex organization.”
Smith’s career began in 1976 with a position in admissions at Kansas State University. At the time, there were approximately 300 students of color on a campus of around 14,000. Her job included going to the Black section of Manhattan, Kansas to recruit, which clarified her understanding of the impact of higher education and crystallized her desire to help others realize educational opportunities.
“I got involved in not only admissions, but I became the graduate advisor for a chapter of AKA [Alpha Kappa Alpha, a Black sorority], started a Black theater group and tried to do things that helped students feel like they belonged at that campus,” says Smith.
