North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has officially appointed Kecia Williams Smith ’95, Ph.D., CPA as dean of the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics, following her service as interim dean since July 2025.
An accomplished accounting scholar and executive leader, Smith makes history as the first N.C. A&T alumna to lead the Deese College and only the second woman to serve in the role. She assumes the permanent post at the nation’s highest-ranked HBCU business school, building on a legacy of strong academic performance and national recognition.
Smith brings more than 25 years of experience spanning public accounting, audit regulation, and higher education. She is widely recognized for her leadership in the profession, having been named one of the Most Powerful Women in Accounting in 2022, and currently serves as a gubernatorial appointee to the North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners.
Under her leadership, the Deese College continues to advance its reputation for excellence, including an MBA program consistently ranked among the nation’s top 100 and the No. 1 HBCU MBA program in the country.
Smith joined N.C. A&T in 2019, where she has held multiple leadership roles, including director of the Master of Accountancy program and the Center for Accounting Opportunities, in addition to serving as an associate professor of accounting and finance. Prior to entering academia, she held senior roles at Deloitte and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and previously served on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Accountability Advisory Council.
Her scholarship focuses on audit quality, regulatory oversight, professional judgment, and the advancement of diversity within the accounting field, with research published in leading peer-reviewed journals across accounting and auditing.
A proud Aggie, Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting, summa cum laude, from N.C. A&T, and later completed her Ph.D. in accounting at Texas A&M University.