Creating Space for Art

Long-time donor, friend, and alumna of UNM makes a remarkable gift of property to UNM Harwood Museum of Art

By Michelle G. McRuiz

Stephanie Smith with UNM President Garnett S. Stokes.

Stephanie Smith, BA ’63, MA ’66, has a long history with the University of New Mexico. She studied here, as have many of her family members. Her mother served as the registrar for more than 20 years, and her uncle, William Kunkel, was on the music faculty.

Stephanie has given generously of her time and money to UNM. She was a UNM Foundation Trustee from 2005 to 2013 and a member and officer of the Harwood Museum of Art Governing Board from 2016 to 2021. With her most recent gift, she has created the Stephanie Mitchell Smith Center for Creative Learning at the UNM Harwood Museum of Art. The center will expand arts-education opportunities for young people.

A flagship donation

Stephanie has gifted her personal property, which is directly adjacent to Harwood, to the museum. The property consists of a four-bedroom house, a casita, an apartment, and a caretaker’s house, and is located on historic Ledoux Street in Taos between Harwood and the E.L. Blumenschein Home and Museum.

UNM President Garnett Stokes expressed her deep appreciation for this remarkable gift. “Stephanie Smith’s extraordinary generosity will have a lasting impact on Harwood Museum and the Taos community,” says Dr. Stokes. “Her vision for expanding arts education aligns perfectly with UNM’s commitment to fostering creativity and cultural enrichment. We are profoundly grateful for Stephanie’s continued support and dedication to The University of New Mexico.”

The value of the gift is more than $2.3 million, but in Stephanie’s mind, having the opportunity to help enhance young people’s abilities and opportunities to create art is beyond any dollar value.

When Stephanie started thinking about donating her property to Harwood, she envisioned a flourishing hub for art students and artists-in-residence.

“I wanted to encourage young people to love art,” says Stephanie. “They need to practice their art. They have a wonderful program at Harwood for young people, and I wanted to build upon that.”

Part of the main house on that property, the large living room, dates to the mid-1700s.

“That living room is huge,” she says. “It will be a place for people to fall in love with and practice art. And with those apartments, there’s the possibility of having artists stay and work on-site.”

Service and leadership

Stephanie has spent her career in education. She was inspired in part by her grandmother, Fern Hogue Mitchell, who was a longtime teacher at Taos High School.

“I can’t imagine anything more important than the way my grandmother gave young people in Taos and neighboring small towns the impetus to love learning,” Stephanie says.

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNM, she went on to earn a PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa. She served as the dean of Westhampton College at the University of Richmond in Virginia from 1976 to 1984. There, she initiated the Women Involved in Living and Learning program, one of her most laudable achievements there. Westhampton College created the Stephanie Smith Chair of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the university in honor of her leadership.

She left the University of Richmond to become president of Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey. She was the college’s 10th president and first woman president. She served as Centenary president from 1985 to 2001 and is now president emerita. In addition, Stephanie was assistant professor of English and American students at Albion College in Michigan and president of the Southern Association of Colleges for Women.

At UNM alone, she has been an exemplar of service to the Foundation and to Harwood. In 2020, she established the Stephanie Mitchell Smith Education Endowment, which supports educational programs at Harwood Museum of Art.

This new gift of property amplifies her endowment. For now, she and UNM intend to build – literally and figuratively – on the space she has donated. Eventually, Stephanie would like to see something similar to Santa Fe’s Museum Hill, but she acknowledges that Taos is unique within New Mexico. It’s those unique qualities that drew influential artists to the town in the early 20th century.

“There is nothing like the Taos Society of Artists anywhere else in New Mexico,” says Stephanie. “I love Taos. It’s an incredible place. I would like to have that corner of Ledoux Street become a museum area eventually to give opportunities to young people.”