Tori Haring-Smith is the former president of

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...

Education

Haring-Smith received a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College and doctoral and master's degrees from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. As an undergraduate, she received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study abroad.

Academic career

Haring-Smith was a professor of theatre and writing at Brown University for 16 years. During her time at Brown, she funded, established, and administered the Rose Writing Fellows Program, a cross-curricular writing and speaking initiative. She later served as chair of the Department of Performing and Visual Arts at the American University in Cairo. She returned to the United States to serve as Executive Director of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, and then served as Vice-President for Educational Affairs and

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the College of Liberal Arts at

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in Salem, Oregon.

Presidency of Washington and Jefferson College

Haring-Smith was named as the 12th president of

on October 17, 2005. She is also the first woman to serve as president of the college. During her tenure at Washington & Jefferson College, Haring-Smith began a policy of offering "Good Neighbor" scholarships to eligible students from the seven southwestern Pennsylvania counties closest to the college and twice visited the White House to discuss college affordability issues. She also launched Washington & Jefferson's Magellan Project, which provides scholarships for students to pursue independent projects abroad during the summer. When Haring-Smith retired, the Magellan Project had spent $1 million to fund 500 student trips. During her final year, the College was also recognized as a top producer of

Fulbright scholars The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

. Haring-Smith led a capital campaign that raised more than $100 million for Washington & Jefferson College to support students, faculty and update campus facilities. The college also shifted to buying 50% of its energy from

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

s. As president of the college, Haring-Smith specifically criticized the '' U.S. News & World Report'' rankings system, noting that the "financial resources" portion of the rankings formula favors colleges that have higher tuition, even without providing any educational benefits, saying that this has harmed the college's ranking because it charged $5,000 to $7,000 less in tuition that its peer institutions.Jaschik, Scott (January 17, 2008). "Potemkin Rankings". '' Inside Higher Ed''. Retrieved July 3, 2010. She also questioned the "peer assessment" portion of the rankings and suggested that college presidents are rarely aware of educational improvements in their peer institutions; she noted that Washington & Jefferson College's ranking has remained the same for a number of years, even while the college made significant improvements in acceptance rates and overall selectivity, added academic programs, and constructed additional buildings. Haring-Smith's criticism of the rankings spurred Bob Morse, the founder of the U.S. College Rankings system to respond to the criticisms directly in an article. She signed the " Presidents Letter", a nationwide movement asking fellow college presidents to decline participation in the '' U.S. News & World Report'' reputation survey, a subjective evaluation where college administrators score their competition. She retired from Washington & Jefferson College on June 30, 2017.

Personal life

Tori Haring-Smith is married to Robert H. Haring-Smith, and together they have one son, Whitney Haring-Smith. Whitney and his wife, Abigail Seldin, cited Tori Haring-Smith as their inspiration for starting College Abacus, a company that provided financial aid estimates for prospective college students.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haring-Smith, Tori Living people Swarthmore College alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Brown University faculty Willamette University people Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College American women academics Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women Women heads of universities and colleges