SVAD - School of Visual Arts & Design

Most recently at the Orlando Science Center as Vice President of Exhibits and Programs, creating interactive science exhibits and public and youth programs, Ms. Smith is a 24-year veteran of informal learning in theater and science centers with a Master of Arts in Theater from the University of Louisville. Prior to OSC, she was Executive Director of Great Explorations, The Hands On Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, where she led the development of an initiative targeting underserved urban teenagers as one of the national sites for YouthALIVE!, an adolescent development initiative funded by the DeWitt Wallace-Readers Digest Foundation. Ms. Smith serves as Associate Director, and is leading an Experiential Learning Lab as part of the Media Convergence Laboratory. This lab is studying how to enhance informal learning using technology, and creating projects that transcend the traditionally silo learning environments of the community center/museum, the classroom and the home. Ms. Smith is also an instructor in the department of Digital Media, charged with engaging students in the story process of digital media – expressing their creativity and broadening their perspectives on interactivity.