From Bottom to Top Tier in a Decade: The Wagner College Turnaround Years

Dr. Norman Smith is the longest servingpresident of Wagner College in New YorkCity and was the fi rst in its 125-year historyto be designated President Emeritus uponhis departure in 2002. His presidentialyears at Wagner College represent a mostremarkable turn-around story and hisleadership is widely credited with havingsaved the College's very existence.After Wagner College, Smith moved tomoved to London, England to becomePresident of Richmond Th e AmericanInternational University in London andis presently in Egypt where, As FoundingChancellor, he is overseeing the constructionof a major American international university,Alamein, west of Alexandria on theEgyptian Mediterranean.. His 38-yearcareer in higher education started at DrexelUniversity, his undergraduate alma mater.He was also Executive Vice President ofMoore College of Art, Vice Presidentand Dean of Philadelphia University andAssistant Dean of the Harvard GraduateSchool of Education and of Harvard's JohnF. Kennedy School of Government. Heearned his doctorate at Harvard University.Smith is married to Dr. Susan Robinson,former President of New York City's SnugHarbour Cultural Center. Th eir daughter,Caroline, attends Skidmore College inSaratoga Springs, New York.