Dr. Pamela Smoot is a native of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Dr. Smoot earned her doctorate in American history with an emphasis on Black America. Dr. Smoot has been employed at SIU for 20 years and currently teaches courses in Struggle Resistance and Survival, History of African American Women, Blacks on the Western Frontier and Black Lives Matter. Dr. Smoot is the recipient of a number of awards including the Diversity Excellence Award and Faculty Woman of the Year.