As a professor of mathematics and longtime business officer of Howard College, Albert Durant Smith must have been acutely aware of just how dire the college's circumstances were when he became president in the summer of 1896. The school's finances had driven away the previous two presidents and the end of the college seemed to be in sight. Howard's trustees appointed Smith "chairman of the faculty and manager of the college" less than two weeks before the college's property was to be foreclosed upon and publicly auctioned by the owners of its mortgage.
Smith, a native of Georgia, had served Howard College in many capacities since arriving at the Marion campus in 1881. In addition to his service as a mathematics professor and business agent, he was a famous disciplinarian who had commanded the cadet corps under the watch of President J. T. Murfee. The latter experience served Smith well as he took up the challenge to save Howard, make it self-sustaining and free it of crippling debt.
