Challey Spotlight: Andrea Smith
Challey Faculty Fellow
Andrea Smith is a senior lecturer of business law at NDSU and fellow at the Challey Institute. She is a former Assistant State’s Attorney, Special Assistant Attorney General, Alternate Fargo Municipal Court Judge, and private practitioner. Some of her practice areas include business law, insurance law, real estate law, and family law. She is a qualified mediator and guardian ad litem. She teaches The Legal Environment of Business and Business Law in the Department of Management and Marketing and is a faculty adviser for College of Business student interns.
Tell us about your role at NDSU.
My primary role at NDSU is Senior Lecturer in the College of Business. I teach all the sections of the College’s two law courses – The Legal Environment of Business and Business Law. I love teaching these classes because the topics covered are not only important in the professional lives of students, but in their personal lives as well. The more people know about the law and the legal process, the more prepared they will be to address legal issues that inevitably arise in business and in life.
How has your experience in the field enhanced your ability to teach students?
Students are more interested and therefore more likely to retain knowledge when examples are used to illustrate legal concepts. Being able to draw examples from a broad background in private practice makes it easier to engage students.
What event are you most looking forward to this fall?
Dr. David Bobb, President of the Bill of Rights Institute, will be speaking on campus this fall. He will be speaking about how the framers of the Constitution understood opportunity and how their understanding informs our national debates about opportunity, liberty, and equality today.
His presentation is in Ballroom A at the Union on September 14th from 4-5:30p and is open to NDSU students, faculty, staff, and the public, and has been approved for 1.5 ND CLE credits (free CLE).
What inspired you to become a Challey Faculty Fellow?
I really enjoyed taking part in the Menard Family Distinguished Speaker series as well as the Human Progress and Flourishing Workshop and wanted to be involved in further conversations and collaboration with faculty members in other disciplines.
How has philanthropy supported your work?
Student scholarships! They are truly life-changing for students and afford them so many opportunities. I am in awe of the extraordinary generosity of our alumni and community members.