Marquita Smith
Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Associate Professor of Media and Communication
Dr. Marquita Smith, Ed.D., is the assistant dean for graduate programs.
Biography
Smith earned her doctorate from the University of Arkansas focusing on curriculum and instruction and faculty leadership.
Smith has a background in journalism and worked in various newsrooms in Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi and Virginia for 16 years. Her last newsroom position was Virginia Beach bureau chief at The Virginian-Pilot. In 2008, Smith went on leave from The Pilot to complete a Knight International Journalism Fellowship in Liberia. During her time in West Africa, she created a judicial and justice reporting network. Both networks continue to operate in the post-war country today. Smith, selected as a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana for the 2016-2017 academic year, is passionate about teaching and researching in West Africa.
In 2012, Smith, an associate professor, was named to the JournalismDegree.org list of Top 50 Journalism Professors. Prior to moving to Oxford, Smith served as the Communication and Fine Arts Division Chair and Coordinator of Diversity Relations at John Brown University. She is a past chair for AEJMC’s Commission on the Status of Minorities and a past member of the national organization’s board of directors. Her research interests focus on media development, public health communications and topics on teaching and learning and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Education
M.A. Journalism, University of Maryland-College Park (1998)
Ed.D. Higher Education, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville (2014)