Don Smith served as a professor and later the ninth director of the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) from 1987 to 1990.

While specific details about his tenure during the late 1980s are limited, the School was under the leadership of Kenneth Starck, who served as director from 1975 to 1986 and again from 1990 to 1996. This timeline suggests that Don Smith’s role as director was likely a transitional position.