As a writer, educator, and ambassador for poetry, Smith has found new and creative ways to transform what the art form can accomplish. During her laureateship, Smith created “American Conversations,” participating in a seven-stop visit to rural areas across the U.S., from Maine to Kentucky to Alaska. The tour included public readings and discussions meant to help people discover how poetic language sheds light on their own experiences and those of others. Her work making poetry more publicly accessible also included editing the anthology “American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time” and launching the American Public Media podcast “The Slowdown.”

Last fall, Smith published her latest book of poems, the career-spanning “Such Color: New and Selected Poems.” Her book “Life on Mars” earned her the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Her memoir, “Ordinary Light,” reflects on race, religion, and the death of her mother, who died soon after Smith graduated from Harvard. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award and named a Notable Book by both The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her essays include “Staying Human: Poetry in the Age of Technology,” published in The Washington Post.

During the challenges of the COVID crisis and amid racial strife in the U.S., Smith co-edited the 2021 prose anthology “There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis,” and spoke to Time magazine about “finding joy during an unbearable year.” In 2021, she was a guest editor for The Best American Poetry 2021 and was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Smith’s ties to the University include being elected by alumni to serve on the Board of Overseers, one of Harvard’s two governing boards. She was also elected by her classmates to the role of chief marshal in 2019 and that same year received the prestigious Harvard Arts Medal.

As a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, she said, “There’s a really meaningful link to the students, a powerful dynamic that exists in the teaching and advising that I’m extremely grateful for right now.” Smith said she also feels “closer to those people who were once mentors and who are now peers — and whose work inspires and motivates me.”

As part of Harvard Alumni Day, Smith’s fellow alumni will be able to reconnect in person to each other and to a campus many have not had the opportunity to visit, due to the pandemic, for two consecutive years. In addition to Smith’s address, highlights of Harvard Alumni Day will include the traditional alumni parade through campus, remarks by Bacow, and a ceremony honoring this year’s Harvard Medalists. The Harvard Choir and Harvard Band, with many participating alumni, will provide musical features.

“This day will be the highlight of the alumni calendar, with the traditions and the pomp and circumstance we all love — and I am thrilled that we will be hearing from Tracy K. Smith, one of our most compelling alumni voices,” said Philip Lovejoy, executive director of the Harvard Alumni Association. “We are also excited to welcome our alumni back to campus after such a long hiatus, and to celebrate our extraordinary community and its irrepressible drive to make the world better. Tracy K. Smith — her stunning poems and her visionary work to promote poetry’s power to connect — is a shining example of that alumni spirit.”

Harvard Alumni Day will take place on campus — and virtually for those who can’t attend in person — on June 3. For more information, visit alumni.harvard.edu/alumni-day.