Notable Women of Florida Atlantic University

Voncile Smith, PhD, received her Emeritus status in 2023 was a champion for women’s rights and a pioneer in communication education. Smith had to endure adversity and succeeded despite her challenges, when she first started on at FAU in 1966, they kept moving her around departments. Voncile had to prove her competence after being skipped over for a promotion because she was married with children. It paid off because she became the founder of the college for communications and multimedia studies in 1972.[1]Dr Smith’s Dean at the time had only allotted her 200 dollars to buy equipment for her department, so she spent her own money to buy secondhand typewriters for her students. And this was all amidst clashing political ideologies, rampant sexism, and tragedy. In the same year of founding her department Dr Smith lost her husband and became a single mother to 4 children all whilst building a curriculum from scratch by collaborating with local county journalists. Smith remained politically active in the Democratic Party phi kappa phi honor society and a chapter president for the American association of university professors. All her children went on to receive a college education a couple even went on to obtain post graduate degrees. Even after retirement she remained an active member of the Boynton beach historical society and active in her local community. To put it into perspective, Dr Smiths department is the number one department in the college of arts and letters to this day when at one point it was the least popular.

[1] Gomez, Melanie. 2023. “FAU’s Department of Communication Founder Receives Emeritus Faculty Status.” FAU University Press. February 23, 2023. https://www.upressonline.com/2023/02/faus-department-of-communication-founder-receives-emeritus-faculty-status/.