Richee-Lori Smith, national director of workplace initiatives for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), has been appointed as vice provost for development on the Newark Campus. Smith will be the senior fundraising officer on the campus and a member of the senior management of the Rutgers University Foundation.

She will assist Rutgers–Newark Provost Steven J. Diner in pursuing major gifts and coordinate the fundraising work of the development officers of the seven schools and colleges that comprise Rutgers–Newark. The appointment is effective February 5.

Smith’s appointment represents a “key position in our efforts to greatly expand fundraising at Rutgers and on the Newark Campus,” Diner said. “Richee-Lori Smith brings to this position valuable professional experience in fundraising and great familiarity with New Jersey and the region.”

In her most recent position at the United Negro College Fund, Smith’s responsibilities included major campaign goals, project development and management, and budget and staff management. She achieved a 294 percent increase in the 2005 Combined Federal Campaign for the UNCF Washington, DC, area. She also served as acting area director and assistant area director for the UNCF New Jersey area office.

From 1998 to 2005, Smith was a special prosecutor and an assistant corporation counsel in the office of the City of Newark Corporation Counsel, and an owner and associate in Smith & Garrett Associates, LLP, based in Newark. Prior to that, Smith was chief of staff, senior legislative aide, and senior constituent adviser to the late New Jersey State Senator Wynona Lipman.

During her years with UNCF, Smith has helped develop a program that provides scholarships to New Jersey’s three law schools for graduates of historically black colleges and universities. The UNCF/NJ Law Scholars Program also provides internships, mentoring programs, and assistance with bar exam and bar review fees.

Smith received her law degree from the School of Law–Newark in 1997, and in 2003 earned an MBA in finance from the Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hampton University in 1994.