IUPUI Director of Student Financial Services Selected

Rebecca E. Porter, Executive Director of Enrollment Services and Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Services at IUPUI, announced that the campus has selected Marvin Smith to be IUPUI’s Director of Student Financial Services. Smith was selected after a national search that attracted candidates from around the nation.

Smith comes to IUPUI with 22 years of experience working in financial aid. He is currently serving as the Senior Associate Director of Financial Aid at Purdue University-West Lafayette. In addition, to his 14 years of experience at Purdue, Smith has also served as the Director of Financial Assistance Services at Ivy Tech State College—Lafayette.

“We are very pleased with Marvin’s wealth of experience at both a national research university as well as a community college campus. Marvin’s a great match for our campus,” Porter said.

Smith has been very involved in federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid program development and implementation. Smith has been president-elect, president and past-president of the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association and has served on the executive council of the Midwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA). He was chair of the Federal Issues Committee of MASFAA from 2010-11.

“I am a passionate advocate for college student access and success, quality services, and the use of technological innovation,” Smith said.

Smith will begin his new role at IUPUI on March 5th. He will provide leadership for the Office of Student Financial Services, which administers $72 million in federal and state aid to the 67% of IUPUI’s 30,000 students who received aid. In addition, Smith will lead the campus in designing aid programs to meet the needs of these students, 40% of whom are the first in their families to go to college and 14% who qualify for Indiana’s Twenty-First Century Scholars.

“Financial aid is critical for our students,” Porter noted. “Without it, many of our students would not be able to attend college, and Marvin has the experience and passion to help our students greatly while continuing to leverage technology to keep our administrative costs to a minimum.”

Smith received a bachelor’s in psychology with a minor in philosophy from Purdue University in 1986, and a master’s of science degree in counseling/college student affairs from Purdue in 1991. Smith and his wife, Jamie, have three children.