LSU announced Keena Smith as the new executive director of the Student Health Center. Smith, of Dallas, Texas, will start the position on Sept. 7.

Brandon Common, the vice president of Student Affairs, was part of the administration that decided she was the best fit for the position.

“During her candidacy, she distinguished herself as a humble and adaptive leader, and a strong communicator with a deep understanding of institutional systems and the importance of building trust to foster collaborative relationships,” Common said in a statement when they announced her hire.

Smith was most recently the assistant vice president of care management at Methodist Health in Dallas. Previously, she served as director and manager of care management at the hospital for an 11-year period.

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is a licensed clinical social worker in Texas and Louisiana.

Smith has a son entering his junior year at LSU as a business major. With her son at LSU, she is excited to make the Student Health Center a thriving place on campus for all students.

“I believe her humility and ability to promote staff cohesion and institutional alignment will allow her to excel at LSU and in our division for our students,” Common said.

Smith will succeed Julie Hupperich, who served as director from 2021 until her alleged wrongful termination in 2023. In the ongoing lawsuit, Hupperich is claiming she was wrongfully terminated after speaking out against the partnership between the public university and the private Catholic hospital, Our Lady of the Lake, which she saw as a violation of church and state.