The Department of Computer Science is pleased to announce that CS alumna, Strategic Advisory Board Chair and CS Alumni Hall of Fame member Beth Smith (B.S. CS ‘87) and her husband, Joey Smith, have made a generous donation to establish the Beth and Joey Smith Scholarship in Computer Science endowment to support future generations of computer science students at NC State University.

This endowment will provide scholarships for students pursuing, or intending to pursue, an undergraduate degree in computer science. The Smiths’ primary intent is to support incoming first-year students or transfer students who are residents of counties in eastern North Carolina and/or students who are current or former 4-H participants.

By creating this endowment with its unique award preferences, the Smiths are not only helping future generations of computer science students at NC State, they are also paying homage and respect to their heritage and the shared experiences that brought them together.

The Smiths grew up in rural eastern NC, where they sense students do not always have access to the same educational opportunities as their counterparts growing up in Raleigh or Charlotte.

“I had never programmed, or even used, a computer, when I decided to major in computer science. The newly introduced PC hadn’t yet become a part of every household, particularly not in small, rural communities,” said Smith.

At NC State, Smith embraced the computer science discipline, where she leveraged a co-op opportunity into a very successful 35-year career at IBM, including serving as general manager of IBM’s Watson AI. The Smiths made career moves to California and New York before settling back in North Carolina prior to her retirement in 2022.

“A lot of kids aren’t exposed to the world of opportunities; they only know what they see in their communities,” Smith said. “As we thought about how to help future generations, it was important to us to focus on opening doors for people who were more or less like the communities that we both grew up in.”

The 4-H component is also significant to the Smiths.

“4-H is a wonderful program for youth to learn the importance of leadership and personal responsibility, the value of goal setting, the spirit of teamwork and the value of giving back. And, we met through 4-H,” Smith said.

The Smiths were grateful for the chance to meet their inaugural scholarship awardee during the annual Engineering Endowment Dinner held in April, 2024 in Talley Student Union.

Smith said meeting their scholarship winner only reinforced the value of their investment for future generations. “When you meet these outstanding students, you realize there’s a person with a story and a strong ambition to achieve great things.”

“I started as a programmer and ultimately led several multi-billion-dollar business units,” said Smith. “I’ve traveled all over the world for IBM and have worked with amazing people. In doing so, I have helped shape technologies like service-oriented architecture and artificial intelligence to be relevant for today’s businesses. I could never have set those goals because I didn’t even know such possibilities existed.”

The Smiths say this scholarship is a way to help others experience future opportunities that they don’t even realize are possible. “If we can do that,” Smith said, “That will be amazing.”