Smith Selected As President Of Fort Peck Community College
The board of directors at Fort Peck Community College have selected long-time employee Craig Smith as the new president of FPCC at their May 23 board meeting.
Smith is the college’s seventh president in the history of the institution, which was chartered by the Fort Peck Tribes in 1978 and is located on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Poplar.
Smith was most recently the Vice President for Institutional Development & Research at FPCC for the past 14 years.
He is an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, born and raised on the reservation. He was raised and educated in Poplar, before transferring to Wolf Point, for his senior year, graduating in 1983 from Wolf Point High School.
Smith received his bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Montana in Missoula in June 1988 and received his masters in business administration from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., in May 2005.
He has over 35 years of experience in the business, agriculture, education, community and economic development areas. He was the economic development specialist for the Fort Peck Tribal Planning Department for over a decade, the Tribal Business Information Center director at FPCC, the FPCC Bookstore & Gift Shop manager,and has been in his current position as Vice President for Institutional Development for the past 14 years.
Smith was named the 2004 SBA Minority Business Advocate of the Year of Montana for the work he did while at the TBIC. He has participated on many boards of directors and advisory councils for various organizations, businesses and agencies on the local, regional, state and national levels.
Amongst other activities, he currently sits on the board of directors for Fort Peck Tech Services and Fort Peck Manufacturing, Inc., both tribally-owned manufacturing companies owned by the Fort Peck Tribes.
Smith also sits on the Assiniboine & Sioux Rural Water Supply System board of directors, as well as the Assiniboine and Sioux Mineral Development Corporation board of directors. He is also a long-time member of the Montana Officials Association and referees high school football and basketball.
“I’m very honored and humbled to be selected the next president of Fort Peck Community College,” stated Smith. “I’ve been associated with the college for the past 35 years, serving on the board for 10 years and an employee for the last 25 years, so I am very familiar with FPCC and have developed a strong network in higher education on the local, state and national level. I hope to build upon and strengthen the achievements and milestones of the administrations before me and continue to provide quality higher education opportunities for the residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and northeast Montana.”
