Dr. Smith is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Arts Administration, Education and Policy at The Ohio State University. Her research explores community arts education, specifically working with non-profit management, program development, and community building through arts-based initiatives utilizing participatory research methods. She has completed three multi-year photonarrative projects in Columbus, Ohio and Lafayette, Indiana, which aim to collaboratively document and share stories from Somali Americans and Muslim Americans and engage people across religious and cultural lines in dialogue. She spent four years working with Somali non-profits in Columbus, Ohio writing grants and developing organizational capacity. In addition, she is active as a consultant for community engagement in her current hometown of Lafayette, Indiana. She has published articles in Bildhaan, Journal of Folklore and Education, Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, Action Research, and the Journal of Art for Life. She has a chapter in the Handbook of Research on the Facilitation of Civic Engagement through Community Art and a co-authored book with Qorsho Hassan, Urur Dhex-Dhexaad Ah: Community In-Between, published by Trillium Press in 2017.