Ted Smith

Nearly six years ago Ted Smith found himself at a crossroads. He had just gone through a divorce, and he had the chance to “reinvent” himself.  He took it.

Smith, a Cody resident, began attending Northwest College while working as a janitor for Park County and eventually earned multiple associate degrees in education, and is close to another associates in range management. He now works as the UW Extension horticulture program coordinator for the county.

Now he’s running for one of two spots on the college board for the Cody subdistrict alongside incumbents Tara Kuipers and Bob Newsome.

“I have great love and appreciation for this institution, and I want fellow and future students to profit and grow the way I have since coming here,” he said in prepared remarks at Tuesday night’s NWC forum. “I want to be a positive voice and contribute to Northwest College and the areas it serves. This is a super place to be educated, invent/reinvent, and/or rebuild yourself. I have very high regards for the faculty, staff and administration.”

Still, he said in an interview with the Tribune on Monday, the college has room for improvement, and noted that while many of the professors are great, some are mediocre.

He also said the college should continue to expand upon its career and technical offerings as the “labor market has decided a bachelor's isn't so important. They're looking for skills.”

“Northwest College hands value to the Big Horn Basin as it provides an educated workforce through degrees, or transfer students returning to the basin after a bachelor’s degree, providing job training, and adding to the quality of life with some of the Powell Valley Education classes or those people looking to take a fun class, like landscape photography in the fall,” Smith said.

His top priorities if elected, he said, are to continue to maintain good fiscal responsibility; keep the college's core educational programs relevant for students looking to go on in education, use the degree or certificate for a job in the area, or further educate the local workforce; and to hold himself to a two term limit.

Newsome is seeking his third term on the board and Kuipers her second.

Smith also weighed in on the biggest question facing the college going into the election: a potential name change.

He expressed opposition to renaming the college Yellowstone College at the October board meeting and said while he is still leery of a change, he’s grown more “open minded” since reading the board’s master plan and 2030 pillars, some of which focus on growing the college as a destination. He said he appreciated the points board member Denise Laursen has made regarding downsides to a name change, including price and the concern that the college doesn’t have the programs such as archaeology and forestry that one might expect of a college named after the nation’s oldest national park.

He said he is cognizant of the demographic shift in the area that shows a decrease in the number of potential traditional college students in the Big Horn Basin in the future.

“As a board member, I would very much like to go with our college recruiters to some other schools and job fairs to get feedback from those that stop; and especially with the nontraditional potential students that they can come here, thrive and succeed,” he said. “Age is not a limiting factor.”