Dr. Katisha Robinson-Smith has served as the Secretary of the Board for the Association of PanAfrican Doctoral Scholars (APADS) in Los Angeles for over three years. In this capacity, she provides high level administrative support to the President and assistance to students pursuing doctoral degrees. Dr. Robinson holds a PhD in Higher Education Administration from the University of Phoenix, a Master’s in Business Administration-Global Management from the University of Phoenix, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Cal State University, Northridge. Dr. Robinson completed her PhD in May 2019. Her dissertation research focused on factors that helped first-generation African American college students successfully complete their first year of community college.Dr. Robinson has served as the Director of Academic Affairs and Interim Program Director forthe GE/Business/MBA programs at Fremont College since July 2019. In this capacity, she oversees the Academic Affairs department, faculty, staff and has direct responsibility for retention, persistence, completion rates, and the budget. Dr. Robinson also manages the Program Directors and Lead Faculty for the Business, Digital Marketing, Healthcare, MBA, Paralegal,and Wellness programs on campus to ensure positive student outcomes.

Previously, Dr. Robinson served as the Interim Program Lead–Business and Accreditation Coordinator. She was promoted after helping the College attain a five-year accreditation renewal through the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). She first joined the Fremont team in 2013 as adjunct faculty and taught in the General Education, Business, and Healthcare Programs Online. In 2014, she left the team to focus on her PhD and later came back in 2016 and 2019 to teach courses in the Business program. Dr. Robinson has worked in higher education for over 16 years and served in various roles, including Program Chair for the School of Business at Westwood College, Advisor to the Business Club, direct Assistant to the Chair and full-time faculty. She also taught Seminar for Success courses at North West College in Long Beach and Santa Ana. Prior to teaching, she served as Press Deputy and South LA Area Director at the City of Los Angeles, Mayor’s Office under former Mayor James K. Hahnand worked as a public relations manager for a healthcare company. Dr. Robinson has a diverse background; she taught in K-12th grade classrooms in Los Angeles and Orange counties as a substitute teacherfor nearly two years, drove as an uber for years, and worked as a cashier at Wendy’s while completing her dissertation research.

Dr. Robinson believes her purpose is to glorify God and help others achieve higher education. For the last 13 years, she has actively been involved in ministry at Antioch Church of Long Beach. For six years she handled administrative tasks for over 30 weekly bible study and Sunday School classes as a direct assistant to Minister Jeanette Polk. Dr. Robinson also taught women’s bible study classes and accepted a role as co-leader of the Prayer Counseling ministry in 2017 after working briefly as a prayer counselor at Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN). Despite her professional and civic roles, Dr. Robinson believes her greatest achievement is being a single parent to three sons ages 18, 13 and 11 year old, respectively. Each of her sons participates in sports. Her oldest son Joshua is a freshman in college at Fresno state. Her middle son, AJ is in the 8th grade and her youngest son, Sam is in the 6th grade. In her spare time, Dr.Robinson loves to read,watch Tyler Perry movies, listen to music, and attend her son's football and basketball games. Dr. Robinson resides in the Greater Los Angeles area.