ALAMOSA — As someone who worked within the university for many years, University of Colorado Regent Democratic Candidate Dr. Lesley Smith believes she can bring a unique perspective to the position, she said during a recent visit to the San Luis Valley.

“If I were elected to the board I would be the only board member that would be a voice for the faculty, having served on the faculty,” she said. She recently retired after nearly 30 years on the CU faculty.

Smith is running for the at-large regent seat for CU, which is a separate position from the regent seat currently held by former Valley resident Glen Gallegos, who is seeking re-election.

Smith has been traveling the state on a listening tour and has heard residents’ concerns about higher education and specifically CU.

“I want to hear what the roadblocks are for sending students to CU, how we can better serve all the students in Colorado,” she said.

She said affordability is a common theme throughout the state.

“We’ve got to make sure education is affordable and accessible,” she said, “and we are providing the best education possible.”

That is a challenge in Colorado, which ranks 48th in higher education funding, she added.

She said she also understands from local conversations that it is important for CU to be compatible with instead of in competition with Adams State.

She added it is important in education today to equip students for future careers that do not even exist today and to help them to become lifelong learners.

Smith recently retired from CU after serving as a professor and research scientist for many years. She came to CU-Boulder on a visiting scientist fellowship in 1989 and fell in love with Colorado and husband Michael, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA.) The two remained in Boulder and raised their two children there.

Smith has an aquatic biology degree from UCSB and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and is proud of her unique experiences such as time in a floating lab in the Brazilian Amazon and as the first female aquanaut in an underwater research habitat.

She is a strong proponent for women and minorities pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers and directed the Research Experience for Community college Students program that prepares students from across the state to be successful in four-year STEM degree programs. Students spend an intensive time period with scientists in the Boulder area with the goal of inspiring them to pursue STEM careers, Smith explained.

As associate director of education and outreach for CIRES, the largest research institution at CU, she raised more than $7 million in grants from the National Science Foundation to support science educators not only on the Front Range but also in rural schools in Colorado.

Alamosa High School science teacher Kerry Adams has been involved in several programs with which Smith has been associated.

Smith served for eight years on the Boulder Valley school board and believes that experience overseeing large budgets and hiring superintendents would serve her well as a regent at CU where one of the most important roles the board will soon hold is to hire a new president, upon the retirement of long-time CU President Bruce Benson.

“For the first time in a decade the board will be hiring a new president, which is very important,” she said.

She said she served on the Boulder Valley school board during a time of economic recession when cuts had to be made. “We had to figure out how to keep those cuts as far away from students and classrooms as possible,” she said.

“An educational institution is different than a business,” she added. “We are dealing with people’s precious children.”

She said it is important for CU to attract the best faculty possible, and as the third largest employer in the state, it is also an important part of the state’s economy.

“We want to make sure CU continues to be the economic driver in the state and delivering the best education for every hard working Coloradoan.”

Caption: Dr. Lesley Smith/Courtesy photo