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An administrator with 13 years experience in mid-sized and large public school districts as well as a technology center has joined the Eastern Oklahoma State College staff as Dean of Eastern’s McAlester campus.

Stephen E. Smith replaces Mark Lauerman at the McAlester campus who recently retired from Oklahoma higher education following more than 28 years service to Eastern.

Smith comes to Eastern from Meridian Technology Center where he served as the director of full-time programs. His duties there included teacher supervision, staff evaluations, personnel, program development, program  budgeting, student supervision, recruitment, marketing and campus promotion.

While at Meridian he completed the requirements of the Doctor of Education from the College of Education at Oklahoma State University last spring semester. He previously had earned a Specialist in Educational Administration degree from OSU.

He completed his bachelor’s (1991) and master’s (1995) degrees in education at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

Smith says with the recent completion of the Clark Bass Building and addition of more classroom area on the McAlester campus Eastern can now offer more programs and expand class offerings.

“We plan to continue working to update and create the 2+2 agreements (associate degree followed by bachelor’s program) to make the transition seamless for Eastern students choosing to attend the four-year bachelor degree programs offered by East Central University and Southeastern Oklahoma State University on the McAlester campus.

“We are also interested in promoting the master’s degree programs the two universities offer on the McAlester campus,” Smith said.

According to Smith a number of allied health programs will begin to surface on the campus to fill needs of the area.