Albert E. Smith: "we are a member of the United Negro College Fund. Rawls raised an enormous amount of money for its members. We thought it would be fitting and proper to name the performing arts center in his honor."

South Florida CEO,  Oct, 2004  

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The Player: Dr. Albert E. Smith, 71, president of Florida Memorial College

Latest Play: This month Smith will dedicate the college's new performing arts center--The Lou Rawls Center for the Performing Arts at Florida Memorial College. The $12 million project was funded in part by county, state and private monies. The facility will host productions by students, and community groups. "We want to be able to put on the best plays, but more than anything we want kids in this community to be able to use the facility to both perform and to visit," Smith says.

Background: Smith rose up from the housing projects of Chicago's Southside to earn a bachelors degree from North Carolina A & T State University. He later became the school's director of athletics and its vice chancellor. A longtime educator and school administrator, Smith worked at Eastern Michigan University and was president of South Carolina State University before taking the helm at South Florida's only historically black college in 1993.

Ambition: Eventually Smith plans to add an additional, smaller theatre to the center. But his first priority is launching a new fundraising campaign for student scholarships and financial aid.

COPYRIGHT 2004 CEO Publishing Group, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group