APPLETON (NBC 26) — The City of Appleton has hired Terrence “Timber” Smith as its new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator. Smith’s first day will be June 21.
“Ultimately, the goal here is to ensure that as a city, we're serving as many as our residents as best as we possibly can , so we really want Appleton to place its welcoming in all people including diversity, equity, and inclusion, and that type of coordinator plays an important role in that work,” said Mayor Jake Woodford.
For the past 29 years, Smith has worked and raised a family in the Fox Valley area. Most recently, Smith worked at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh as the veterans resource coordinator and an admissions counselor.
"He's not new to the Fox Valley by any stretch," Woodford said. "He's been here for nearly 30 years in the Fox Valley, has raised his family here, so he really knows what it's like here in the Fox Cities and has been an active part of it and we look forward to him bringing that to the city of Appleton."
Smith's DEI experience includes serving as the cultural retention and recruitment support specialist for the Appleton Area School District and Fox Valley Technical College, as well a serving on the Workplace DEI Taskforce for UWO. Smith currently serves on the DEI Committee for the City of Oshkosh, a group that advises on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy from UWO. He served four years in the Army Reserves as an optical lab tech. He's also active in the community, serving as the vice president of the Sigma Upsilon Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first intercollegiate fraternity established for African American men in 1906 at Cornell University.
