Carl W. Smith, a staff member for 16 years, was honored for his willingness to go beyond the call of duty to help people in a friendly manner. “From the earliest days of the University’s affirmative action program, he had provided steady, wise counsel and pressed for fair play from his administrative vantage point.
His citation noted that he had helped many young black faculty, providing them “a source of solid good sense in working through personal career problems in an unfamiliar environment.”
Smith came to Chapel Hill after serving on the faculty of the N.C. Central University School of Business and in several posts including instructor for St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh. He earned an undergraduate degree from St. Augustine’s and a master’s from N.C. Central.
As assistant to the provost, he oversaw the development of the non-personnel budget for the Division of Academic Affairs, which included the College of Arts and Sciences, the six professional schools and several institutes and centers affiliated with academic affairs, the University Library, Ackland Art Museum and the Summer Session. He also was involved in some aspects of the division’s personnel budget. The division’s total annual operating budget is more than $100 million.
Smith had done post-graduate work at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and earned a certificate of professional management education from the executive program at the UNC School of Business Administration.