Profile
Stephanie Smith is Chair of the Department of Visual & Dramatic Arts, Producer for YSU’s University Theatre, and Professor of Art History within YSU’s Cliffe College of Creative Arts. Dr. Smith received her B.A. in Art History from Washington & Lee University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Art from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Dr. Smith joined YSU’s Department of Art in 1998.
Dr. Smith’s presentations and publications deal predominantly with funerary art and ritual commemoration in the Roman world. She has also worked extensively on the topic of Roman glass, notably as a member of the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma/American Academy in Rome Palatine East excavation. Her catalog, published by DeLuca Editori D’Arte (2014), documents one of the largest assemblages of late antique glass to be published for the city of Rome.
Dr. Smith has received many fellowships and honors including a Fulbright fellowship to Rome, Italy (1995-1996), a Samuel H. Kress Foundation fellowship at the Biblioteca Hertziana in Rome, Italy (1995-1998), and a Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst Research Grant from the German government (1995). She has been a Visiting Associate Member at the American School in Athens, Greece, and a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome.
Dr. Smith has received notable honors including YSU’s Mentor of the Year Award (2009), the Youngstown State University-Ohio Education Association Service Award (2007), a YSU Distinguished Faculty Award (2007), and was a 2015 inductee into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society in recognition of academic excellence. She served on the Niagara Foundation’s Cleveland Advisory Board (2013-2016) and was Vice-Chair for the McDonough Museum of Art’s Advisory Board (2012-2018). Dr. Smith has served on the Social Science Research Council’s Committee on Course-Level Assessment in Art History (2017-2018), the College Board’s Higher Ed Credit Policy Focus Group (2018), and has served as a Visiting Evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Art & Design (NASAD) since 2015.
Prior to becoming Chair of the Department of Visual & Dramatic Arts, Dr. Smith served as Chair of the Department of Art (2007-2011), YSU’s Director of Faculty Relations (2012-2017), and Interim Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance (2019-2020).
