Gail Smith (classicist)

After a bachelor's degree at Montclair State University, Smith received an MA in Greek and Latin from Columbia University. She then completed a PhD at New York University with a thesis entitled 'The Importance of Miracle to the Religious Faith of Plutarch of Chaeronea' in 1972.

Smith was recruited to the Classics faculty at Brooklyn College by Ethyle Wolfe, then chair of its Classics Department, which she joined in 1972.[https://www.gc.cuny.edu/news/professor-gail-t-smith-keizer-classicist-who-broke-down-barriers-professoriate-dies-85 Professor Gail T. Smith-Keizer, a Classicist Who Broke Down Barriers to the Professoriate, Dies At 85]. CUNY Graduate Center News. August 17, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2024.

She was among the inaugural faculty of the CUNY Latin/Greek Institute, in which she continued to teach every few years through 1982.Hallet, Judith.[https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/935504/pdf Gail Smith]. Classical World (Vol. 117, No. 4) September 2024.Gajewski, Paulina. [https://vanguard.blog.brooklyn.edu/2023/09/20/in-memoriam-celebrating-the-life-of-classics-professor-gail-smith/ In Memoriam: Celebrating The Life Of Classics Professor Gail Smith]. The Brooklyn College Vanguard. September 20, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2024.

Smith was appointed to the board of editors for the journal The Classical Outlook in 1974, and also served as acting editor in 1977.{{Cite journal|last1=LaFleur|first1=Rick|last2=LaFleur|first2=Richard A.|last3=Ricks|first3=Mary Wells|date=2003|title=Edits and Exit|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43939673|journal=The Classical Outlook|volume=81|issue=1|pages=1–2|jstor=43939673}}{{Cite journal|last=Gries|first=Konrad|title=Sixty Years of the Classical Outlook: A Retrospect|date=1983|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43935617|journal=The Classical Outlook|volume=60|issue=4|pages=105–108|jstor=43935617}} In 1993, she published a commentary on Plautus' Captivi as part of the Bryn Mawr Latin Commentaries series. She served as acting chair of the Classics department at Brooklyn College in spring 2010, and as assistant acting provost for CUNY's Graduate Center from 1995 to 2013. As of 2020, Smith continues to teach Latin, ancient Greek literature, and classical reception courses at Brooklyn College,{{Cite web|title=Captcha {{!}} Turing Test 1.0|url=https://www.coursicle.com/brooklyncuny/professors/Gail+Smith/|access-date=2020-10-22|website=www.coursicle.com}} where she has worked for over 40 years.{{Cite web |title=25th Annual Faculty Day Conference |url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/aca_facultyday/FD22_AwardsProgram.pdf |access-date=21 October 2022}}

Smith has been involved in university access schemes since the 1970s, when she was a tutor at the City University of New York's Summer Latin Institute.{{Cite news|last=Jenkins|first=Evan|date=1973-08-06|title=2 Years of Latin in 10 Difficult Week‐Long Lessons (Published 1973)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/06/archives/2-years-of-latin-in-10-difficult-weeklong-lessons.html|access-date=2020-10-22|issn=0362-4331}} Between 1991 and 2007, she served as the founding director of the CUNY Pipeline Program, an initiative dedicated to supporting CUNY undergraduates from underrepresented groups who are interested in pursuing a PhD.{{Cite web|title=The Pipeline Program|url=http://www.diversiphd.com/about|access-date=2020-10-22|website=The CUNY Pipeline Program|language=en-US}} From 1995 to 2007, she also served as director for the CUNY Graduate Center's Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs (OEODP, now known as EOD) working to support and increase the number of students from underrepresented groups pursuing PhDs at the university.{{Cite web|title=Mission, Goals and History|url=https://www.gc.cuny.edu/About-the-GC/Provost-s-Office/Educational-Opportunity-Diversity/Mission,-Goals-and-History|access-date=2020-10-22|website=www.gc.cuny.edu}}

Between 1999 and 2013, Smith served as principal investigator for two CUNY programs aiming to widen participation in STEM and social, behavioural and economic science research named the National Institutes of Health/Bridges to the Doctorate Program and the National Science Foundation Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program.{{Cite web|title=About the Institute for Broadening Participation (IBP)|url=https://www.pathwaystoscience.org/contactus.aspx|access-date=2020-10-22|website=www.pathwaystoscience.org}} These programs secured over $11 million in external funding to support their initiatives. She also serves as a Regional Specialist for the Institute for Broadening Participation.

Smith's life and career were celebrated by Brooklyn College at a memorial service on September 13, 2023.Gajewski, Paulina. [https://vanguard.blog.brooklyn.edu/2023/09/20/in-memoriam-celebrating-the-life-of-classics-professor-gail-smith/ In Memoriam: Celebrating The Life Of Classics Professor Gail Smith]. The Brooklyn College Vanguard. September 20, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2024.

• (ed.) Plautus, Captivi (1993). Bryn Mawr: Thomas Library, Bryn Mawr College. {{ISBN|0929524500}}

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Category:Living people

Category:American classical scholars

Category:American women classical scholars

Category:Brooklyn College faculty

Category:Montclair State University alumni

Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)