News of Susan Etheredge ’77

September 6, 2019

Dear students, staff and faculty,

I am writing to inform you that Susan Etheredge ’77, Smith’s dean of the college and vice president for campus life, has decided to return to the faculty and to her full-time role as professor of education and child study on July 1, 2020. Susan plans to retire from the faculty on June 30, 2021.

I am grateful to Susan for her outstanding work over the past two years. Under her leadership, the dean of the college’s office has made several critical investments across all areas of student life. Among those investments: The college developed a strategic plan for student mental health and hired two additional mental health counselors; completed a comprehensive study of residential life, and launched a two-year pilot of identity-based, interest-based affinity housing to cultivate and foster a sense of belonging for students of color; launched the inaugural associate dean for integrative learning; began a process to reenvision the Lazarus Center for Career Development and hired two new positions in that area; and eliminated dining charges for students staying on campus over Thanksgiving and spring break. This year, Susan will lead a review of the first-year student experience, to improve the ways Smith supports incoming students in designing and navigating their curricular and co-curricular paths.

We will conduct a national search for our next dean of the college and vice president for campus life. Please email me at presidentmccartney@smith.edu if you have an interest in exploring the position. 

We will come together to celebrate Susan and her many accomplishments at the end of the academic year. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Susan for all she has done to strengthen the student experience at Smith College. 

Sincerely,

Kathleen McCartney
President