[11] From 2016 to 2017, she held a fellowship at the University of Notre Dame's Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
[15][16] In 2020,[17][18] Smith became the first Iowa State University faculty member to be awarded a Carnegie Fellowship.
[20] In November 2021, Smith was the leading vote-getter of three candidates elected to the Ames School Board.
[21][22] Smith is married to the Romanian-born software engineer and artist Tibi Chelcea.
[24][25] He helped organize an art exhibit during a sesquicentennial celebration marking the platting of Ames.