An Elizabethtown College education is for people who feel the pull to contribute to the world. With a network of 24,425 living alumni, our graduates leave Etown to become the influential advocates and changemakers the world needs more of.
Meet William (Bill) Smith ’91, a Political Science alumnus and CEO of The May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust, which supports organizations that offer opportunities to individuals that enrich their quality of life, promote self-sufficiency, and assist them in achieving their highest potential. Smith is passionate about making a difference in the world by completing social justice and advocacy work across the globe and currently serves on the College’s President’s Leadership Council.
“My Etown degree has benefitted me immensely as my career has focused on social justice and the moral imperative at the core of creating the conditions of justice for everyone, using the College’s motto of Educate for Service.”
What defined your Etown experience?
That is tough to nail down when I think it was a combination of everything. However, it was the excellent and personal education that I received, including a focus on how a liberal arts educational approach creates broader minds and broader thinking about the world and how I want to exist in it and contribute to it. It is also where I encountered the Educate for Service ethos and claimed it as my guide in building a professional career.
How has your Etown degree benefitted you and your career success?
My Etown degree has benefitted me immensely as my career has focused on social justice and the moral imperative at the core of creating the conditions of justice for everyone, using the College’s motto of Educate for Service. I learned to be open to this at Etown and reflect on what it meant for me and how I desired to move in the world.
How have you made a difference in the lives of others through your career and/or personal life?
I don’t think in these terms, but I know my career in social justice advocacy and now in philanthropy has been impactful in ways I will never fully realize, and for that, I am blessed and grateful. From advocacy work on HIV/AIDS in Africa to helping to build civil society in Mexico, to mobilizing development resources from European Union nations, to investing hundreds of millions of dollars in nonprofit organizations that help people thrive, I’ve been blessed to play a role.
What is your passion? Where do you place your energy besides your career?
My passion is service in the pursuit of justice, and I try to let that be my guide in every aspect of my life, from my personal relationships to my professional life and my volunteerism. More recently, I’ve allowed myself some space to become a writer on food, wine, and travel, and it’s been a joyous and productive turn.
View more Etown Changemakers at etown.edu/125.