Walter Lee Smith (May 13, 1935 – November 25, 2021) was an American academic administrator who was president of

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

(FAMU), serving from 1977 until 1985. The privately owned Walter L. Smith Library has a collection and hold programs related to African American history.

Life and career

Smith received a bachelor's degree from Florida A&M University and a doctorate from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. He was an

Africa-America Institute The Africa-America Institute (AAI) is an international education organization dedicated to advancing the continent's development through higher education and skills training, convening activities, and promoting greater engagement between Africa and ...

Scholar to

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

in 1971 and studied African culture and history. He worked for the U.S. government on federal school desegregation programs and at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

developing educational curriculum for engineering assistants on the

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

program before becoming an administrator at

Hillsborough Community College Hillsborough Community College (HCC) is a public community college in Hillsborough County, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. History HCC was one of the last community colleges to be created in Florida, founded in 1968. Only ...

in Tampa and then

Roxbury Community College Roxbury Community College (RCC) is a public community college in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. RCC offers associate degrees in arts, and sciences, as well as certificates. RCC has transfer agreements with Curry College, No ...

in Massachusetts. From 1995 until 2000 he was a professor at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. He served as FAMU's seventh non-interim president
/ref> from 1977 until 1985. FAMU's campus includes the Walter L. Smith Architecture Building Florida State has a scholarship program in his honor. The Florida State Archives have a photo of him presenting and award in 1984. In the late 1980s a video about Walter L. Smith and his accomplishments at FAMU was released.

Julian Bond Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the ea ...

introduces the film. Smith gave a presentation on race and education in Florida in 2014. He sued FAMU President Frederick Humphries accusing him of withholding a payment over professional rivalry. In 2009, Smith received an award from the NEA. He died in Tampa on November 25, 2021, at the age of 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Walter L. 1935 births 2021 deaths American Africanists Presidents of Florida A&M University University of Florida faculty Florida State University alumni Florida A&M University faculty People from Tampa, Florida