Smith, 55, and her fellow recipients will be recognized by the California State University's Board of Trustees at its July 17 meeting in Long Beach.

The award provides $3,000 scholarships to students with financial need who demonstrate superior academic performance, community service and personal accomplishments. The awards are funded by an endowment from the Hearst Foundation and individual contributions from the CSU Board of Trustees.

Smith, with a cumulative 3.77 grade point average, is a returning student who overcame a longtime drug addiction and who currently deals with daily medical challenges while devoting many hours to 12-step program service subcommittees. She also speaks to jailed women offenders about sobriety and works with the CSUN Helpline, a paraprofessional crisis service that offers encouragement and referrals to callers.

Smith said she was honored to receive her scholarship.

"This scholarship will allow me to pay my tuition and books and leave me a little money toward a car," she said.

In 1963, Smith enrolled at UCLA at the age of sixteen but soon dropped out as she entered a troubled period that led her to a 30-year drug addiction.

She enrolled but then dropped out of El Camino College in 1968 to work full-time as a radiological technologist.

"During [the drug period] I didn't think there was any way to stop. Then there came a time in my life when I had a moment of clarity and I began to realize it's possible to stop," Smith said.

She returned back to school at Los Angeles Valley College in 1997 where she received her associate of arts in biology and transferred to CSUN in fall 1999.

While attending CSUN, Smith was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and gastrointestinal bleeding, which meant she had to go to the hospital many times during each semester.

"Going back to CSUN has been a gift," Smith said. "The physical plant is beautiful, the instructors are excellent and I really enjoy the other students. By getting my bachelor's and later my master's degrees here, it means I will be able to get a job to help people." Smith has been drug free for the past seven and-a-half years. She would like to enter CSUN's exclusive genetic counseling program after earning her bachelor's degree in biology next year.

California State University, Northridge has more than 31,500 full- and part-time students and offers 59 bachelors' and 41 master's degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the third largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently said CSUN "stands as a model to other public urban institutions of higher education."