Dr. David Smith, director of Student Support Services at Tusculum College, has been recognized as the 2015 Dissertation of Year winner by the Southern Association for College Student Affairs.
Dr. Smith’s dissertation, “Unintended Consequences of Collegiate Living-Learning Community Programs at a Public University,” was the top selection from numerous entries from candidates across the southeastern United States.
Dr. David Smith
As winner, Dr. Smith will present his research at the 2015 SACSA conference in Greenville, S.C. this fall. His research is unique in that most scholarship focusing on collegiate living-learning community programs documents intended and largely positive outcomes. Dr. Smith’s research, however, chronicles occurrences of unintended and sometimes negative consequences of living-learning community programming—a phenomena heretofore largely absent from research literature.
The Southern Association for College Student Affairs encourages and supports dissertation research. “Scholarship and research are cornerstones to increasing the understanding of issues impacting students and the student affairs profession,” said Dr. Mary Alice Varga, research Committee Chair for SACSA
Dr. Smith joined Tusculum in 1997. In addition to his doctorate, he holds an associate’s degree from Mountain Empire Community College as well as a bachelor’s and master’s degree from East Tennessee State University.