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Marking its first hundred years, Arkansas State University continues to expand in exciting ways.
With decades of high-profile higher education communications experience, Bill Smith is the Chief Communications Officer at Arkansas State University. He joined A-State in 2013 as the executive director of marketing and communications after two years in a similar role at Northwestern State in Louisiana. Through aggressive content marketing, Arkansas State’s visibility within the region and state has improved. Among the initiatives launched for Arkansas State were a comprehensive mobile app, A-State SmartCampus; a reformatting of the university’s social media resulting in a tripling of metrics; and a visual branding campaign which is ongoing. He and his team at A-State earned PRISM honorable mentions, CASE regional golds and regional Advertising Federation golds in the past several years. He was promoted to Associate Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications in 2018, then to Chief Communications Officer in 2020. He also served as a member of the university’s Emergency Operations Center during the COVID-19 pandemic response of 2020 to 2021.
At Northwestern State, Smith initiated programs to increase interaction with prospective students and alumni, leading to a significant tuition increase in 2011-12 and the conclusion to the university’s most successful fund-raising campaigns. Previously, Smith was an associate athletic director for two decades at the University of Arkansas. He started his career in higher education at University of Louisiana-Monroe after working as a sports editor and radio announcer. He has provided media relations support for national champion, Final Four and BCS bowl teams along with being a digital pioneer in online athletic communications starting with his first websites in the mid-1990s, inaugurating social media content for institutions in the mid-2000s and mobile applications in the current decade. The creation of compelling content marketing for universities has earned regional and national awards at NSU and A-State from CASE, PRSA and NACMA. His athletic publications at UA earned over 30 national awards from CoSIDA. Smith brings additional perspective from FEMA Advanced PIO training and volunteer work with local and state EM/911 organizations to the impact of social media in crisis communications.
He earned his doctorate at the University of Arkansas in American history in 1999, served as an instructor at four institutions and co-hosted a monthly radio series, “We’re History”, through a local NPR affiliate, for 12 years. He was two-time board of directors’ president of the Arkansas Air Museum and served the maximum of two-terms on the board of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History. Among his public service, Smith was a member of the technical advisory committee of the Northeast Arkansas Metropolitan Planning Organization and chair of the MPO’s active transportation subcommittee whose plan for the region won a national award in 2018. Smith maintains a blog on social media and does institutional training on best practices in social media. An extra class amateur radio operator, Smith is an avid bicycle century rider, nationally certified bike safety instructor and former president of the NEA Bicycle Coalition.
P:
(870) 972-2169
F:
(870) 972-3693
Building: Administration Building
Room: 103
