Variety of pursuits help Smith focus on advising youth

Ranesha Smith, director of student success and advising for the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science

Most students lack any idea what they are capable of when starting college. In many ways, Ranesha Smith is still figuring that out, though she’s now eight years past graduation and almost four years into her employment at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Her potential is still expanding.

The newly named director of student success and advising for the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science, Smith is always reaching higher and further, and then encouraging her students to do the same. She’s following the example set for her by others when she was a student here.

“Not only am I educating students on opportunities and what they need to do to get a STEM degree, but I’m also actually living proof of it,” Smith said. “No matter how I ended up getting there, I’m there.”

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which wasn’t talked about much as Smith was growing up in Gary and Portage. She was outstanding in the classroom, even earning a certified nursing assistant license before she graduated high school, but no one in her family had ever graduated from college, so she didn’t know or understand what options were possible.

Smith came to Fort Wayne to study secondary education and got involved in the Teaching English as a New Language program. Marietta Frye, PFW’s director of advising and student success, encouraged Smith to travel to Poland as a cultural ambassador, teaching English and American culture after she graduated in 2015.

Similarly, her conversations with Shannon Bischoff, professor of linguistics and director of the TENL program, led to her pursuing an opportunity to attend the University of Puerto Rico for graduate school and teach English as part of her work graduate assistant. Smith finished her linguistics-focused graduate degree in 2017 .

After returning to Indiana, Smith started working in the engineering department of another local university before coming to PFW in 2019 in the engineering department, or as she said, coming to work “for a university that I believe in.”

She’s currently studying for her doctorate in technology with a focus on technology innovation at Purdue West Lafayette.

“There were people at this university who helped change the trajectory of my life,” Smith said. “I’m not saying I didn’t have a skillset or any tools when I got here, but when I did, the people here really helped me to tap into my full potential.”

And now Smith is trying to do the same for all the students she advises and the greater Fort Wayne community. For about four years, she’s been volunteering at City Life ’07 High School and City Life ’06 Middle School, parts of the Youth for Christ organization. She sees herself in the students, who probably don’t know what they are capable of or their options—so she’s trying to show them.

City Life has a holistic approach to helping students, Smith said, helping them change at the moment, but also trying to develop them into the leaders of tomorrow.

“It’s not only seeing the smile on their face or the tears from having hard conversations, but knowing that we’re shaping the future,” Smith said. “I’m not sure how much Marietta or Shannon knew they were shaping me and how it would come full circle. Now, I’m their co-worker, and we are making change together. Those little bits of advice and little bits of mentorship here and there really transform a person’s life, which ultimately transforms every other person’s life connected to that person. That’s a huge impact.”

It’s not just mentoring for Smith. Three years ago, she started an academic-year program for middle school students and collaborated with community leaders to create a summer version for high school students to introduce them to STEM. She built the curriculum for middle school students and invited university professors to help. Smith started with a small grant, then accepted donations, and now mainly pays for the middle school program herself.

The high school program takes place over the summer, engaging youth with local companies and professionals. After starting with 50 students, the program is expanding to 100-plus students this summer because the original students want to return.

“Just seeing what it looks like to be on a college campus and in STEM businesses changes their whole mind,” Smith said. “You take them out of an element they feel comfortable in, and suddenly this becomes attainable.”

That’s exactly what happened to her. 

“It’s because I know the influence we have on students,” Smith said. “I am getting to hone in on all of the skillsets that I knew I was good at, and I found avenues to make that happen. I’m able to combine all those things I’ve learned to make an impact on the future.”