Biography

Carol L. Smith, chief information officer at DePauw University, has more than three decades of experience in a broad range of areas involving information technology. In her role as CIO at DePauw, Smith leads IT strategic planning and technology to support the mission and vision of the university. She serves as a member of the university senior administration, collaborates with institutional leadership across the university, and leads a team of professionals whose expertise ranges across instructional technology, administrative systems, networking and infrastructure, desktop and user support, and related IT services.

Smith has a BA in Computer Science and English Literature from DePauw University and an MS in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University, and she is a 2004 graduate of the Frye Leadership Institute. Smith joined DePauw in 1994 and has been involved with technology and related initiatives throughout her tenure there. Prior to DePauw, she spent two years as a software engineer in an Indianapolis company that designs radiation monitors for the nuclear power industry and she served six years as the national research database coordinator in the Molecular and Medical Genetics Department at Indiana University.

Smith is a frequent presenter and active member of several organizations, including EDUCAUSE, the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC), the Higher Education Systems & Services Consortium (HESS), and the Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI), among others. She led as faculty member for the 2014–2016 EDUCAUSE Leadership Institute Programs, collaborating with fellow faculty to cultivate future higher education CIOs. She served on the CLAC board of directors from 2012 to 2018.  Smith is president of the board of directors for the HESS Consortium, a nonprofit organization with 300+ member institutions focused on lowering costs and fostering collaboration around administrative systems and shared services between private colleges, which Smith and colleagues from six Midwest institutions founded in 2016.

She led a successful grant proposal in 2017 from which DePauw received a $210,000 2017 NSF CC* Network Design award to establish campus high-speed network connectivity to Internet2 resources that will scaffold enhanced student engagement in science discovery and innovation. Smith served on the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference Program Committees, as 2017 Vice Chair and the 2018 Chair. And most recently she served as a member of the EDUCAUSE Board of Directors from 2018 to 2022.