Smith Appoints HarvardX Executive Director as Chief Information Officer

Smith College President Kathleen McCartney has announced that Samantha S. Earp, executive director of HarvardX, has been named as Smith’s Chief Information Officer effective September 1.

“I am very pleased to welcome Samantha Earp to Smith,” McCartney said, noting that Earp’s candidacy was embraced by everyone involved in the search. “Her expertise in bringing experimentation, innovation and strategy to a higher education environment make her an important strategic partner for where Smith is now and where we aim to be in the future.”

Serving as a member of the president’s cabinet and reporting to President McCartney and Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike Howard, Earp will be responsible for leading the college’s core information technology, operations and services. “Samantha is a great fit for the Smith community,” said Howard, who served as the chair of the search committee that brought Earp to Smith. “She has a true passion for technology and its ability to advance the college’s mission and transform the experiences of students, faculty and staff.”

At Harvard, Earp serves as the executive director of HarvardX, a university-wide initiative that creates open online learning experiences for residential and online learners. Previously, Earp was the managing director for academic technology services at Harvard and the director of academic services at Duke University’s Office of Information Technology.

“My experience in teaching and information technology, along with my own liberal arts education, has given me a remarkable foundation and appreciation for Smith,” Earp said. “The opportunity to work at Smith and further its mission of educating women for the world is an extraordinary privilege.”

Earp majored in French at Berea College and holds a Diplôme Supérieur d’Études Françaises from the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France, and a masters degree in French linguistics from Indiana University. She has completed doctoral-level coursework in instructional systems technology and linguistics from Indiana University.

Founded in 1871, Smith College educates women of promise for lives of distinction, developing leaders for society’s challenges. The largest women’s liberal arts college in the United States, Smith enrolls 2,600 students from nearly every state and 62 other countries.