Michael P. Smith is the executive director of the Center. He oversees the Center's research projects as well as the faculty and curriculum for the Center's on-campus programs.

Smith was a journalist and editor for 23 years. Before joining the Center, he was assigned to the corporate staff of Knight Ridder. In 1982, as assistant managing editor, he was part of the team at the Ft. Wayne (IN) News-Sentinel that won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. Smith is the author or editor of several monographs, including Values. Culture. Content., The Newsroom Brain and The Changing Reader.

Smith has a B.Sc. degree in journalism from Ball State University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.