Dr. Rachel Smith serves as an associate professor of finance at the Hans A. Nielsen College of Business at Charleston Southern University.

Dr. Smith served as a financial planner for Ronald Blue and Company and financial analyst and manager for two large corporations from 1995 to 2001.

She transitioned to academia in 2005 as a tenured Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, IN for 20 years.

Dr. Smith has provided frequent interviews regarding current financial and economic events to TV news programs, radio stations, and business journals. She has conducted extensive research at Harvard and Darden Business Schools regarding the use of cases in the business school classroom and has used this research to publish multiple articles on effectively using cases and other active learning approaches in the classroom. Dr. Smith has presented papers and published multiple articles in the areas of Case Discussion Leadership in the Classroom, the Integration of Business Skills for K-12 School Leaders, Career Development Strategies for Business School Students, Engaging Students in Real-World Experiences and Service Learning, Education Finance, and Applied Learning in Schools of Business.

Journals include the Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, Journal of International Business Education, Planning and Changing Journal, Journal of Financial Education, Journal of the Academy of Business Education, Journal of Economics and Finance Education, Journal of Finance Case Research, and the Financial Management Association Journal. She has also served as an author and editor of leading undergraduate and graduate finance textbooks for McGraw-Hill for many years.

Dr. Smith joined CSU in 2021 and has since brought many CSU students under her wing as the finance world continues to evolve. She and her husband, Jeff, have been married for 28 years and have 3 children. They live in Mount Pleasant and are active members of Seacoast church.

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