When Carson Smith wasn’t sure if he could fulfill all of his leadership responsibilities at Arkansas Tech University, he turned to the wisdom of the Duke.
“There’s this John Wayne quote…courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway,” said Smith. “That’s always stuck with me on those bad days when you don’t want to wake up and get out of bed. You have class all day, events all evening and you have presentations…you have to go and do it because you have people counting on you to get the job done. Days like that, you have to pony up and be that example for someone else.”
Smith is the 2026 recipient of the Alfred J. Crabaugh Outstanding Senior Award at Arkansas Tech. He was recognized during ATU spring commencement ceremonies at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Saturday, May 9.
A graduate of Russellville High School, Smith began his studies at Arkansas Tech in fall 2022. He quickly became involved in student organizations such as Kappa Sigma fraternity, which he led as president from 2023-25, and Order of Omega, which provided him with the opportunity to lead philanthropic events involving more than 300 fraternity and sorority life students from ATU.
“Some of the greatest benefits are the personal growth I experienced,” said Smith when asked about those early leadership opportunities. “I learned how to put what’s important first. I know that I am capable of doing things that take a lot of effort and time and may stress me out a little bit. I enjoy seeing the benefits of that…seeing the other people I am making these decisions for benefit from them, how it’s making them better and, in turn, how it’s making me better.”
Smith carried that philosophy into ATU Student Government Association, first as senator-at-large in spring 2024 before becoming secretary of finance and administration in 2024-25 and president in 2025-26. Along the way, he provided leadership for the ATU freshman orientation program and for the staff of student workers in the student union.
One of his most significant contributions was serving as a student leader during the planning and construction of Ferguson Student Union, which opened at ATU in spring 2026.
“The biggest thing is how much care and thought was put into the whole process, and also the emphasis that was placed on student input,” said Smith when asked about the process of making Ferguson Student Union a reality. “Chelsea Neal (ATU associate dean for campus life and director of Ferguson Student Union), Breckyn Ballard (assistant director of Ferguson Student Union), Kevin Solomon (ATU assistant vice president for campus life), Mrs. Amy Pennington (ATU vice president for student affairs)…all of them made sure that what students wanted and needed was put forward and included in the plan. Dr. (Russell) Jones (ATU president) and Suzanne McCall (ATU vice president for administration and finance) came to us all the time for things. They wanted to make sure student input was valued and taken care of. To see that…that was the biggest takeaway for me…how much Tech faculty and staff care about their students.”
That care has yielded a 70,000-square foot space that has fulfilled its promise to become the central gathering place for Arkansas Tech students.
“It’s really just a sense of community,” said Smith when asked about his experiences in Ferguson Student Union since it opened on March 18. “Being able to walk in there and see students I wouldn’t have normally seen and be able to interact with them…before, with the other buildings and the way campus was set up, there wasn’t a living room for students. Now that we have that, you’re seeing people you’ve never met before. Getting to connect with other people builds that sense of community.
“I can’t give enough credit to the previous SGA presidents and executive boards,” continued Smith. “They did a lot of the work. Elli White (ATU SGA president 2024-25) and Hannah Stone (ATU SGA president 2023-24) led the charge on that, so I got to keep pushing, but the ball was already rolling downhill. It is something I’m extremely proud of and something that I know will be a staple of the Tech community for many years to come. I’ll be very proud of that.”
Ferguson Student Union is a big part of Smith’s legacy of leadership as a student at Arkansas Tech, but the most important aspect of his undergraduate experience wasn’t a building. It was the people in the buildings.
“Coming into college, I was pretty prideful…I wouldn’t say I was a guy who would always reach out for help,” said Smith, who is graduating from Arkansas Tech with Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degrees in business management and finance. “I learned how to be humble, and that humility that I learned here (at ATU) allowed me to reach out to people. I figured out Tech has people you can lean on, and that’s what I did. It’s really made me a better person. I’ve made strong bonds and connections with those people by asking for help instead of trying to strong-arm it and ending up less successful than I needed to be. Having the people to lean on that I did was life-changing for me, and I will forever remember those people.”
