Dan Smith

United Church of Christ
Rev. Dan Smith

Email: dsmith@hds.harvard.edu

Rev. Dan Smith is a husband, dad, pastor, teacher, and community leader with more than 25 years of experience in congregational ministry. From 2008 to 2024, he served as Senior Minister of First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, United Church of Christ (UCC). He currently serves as UCC Chaplain at Harvard University and as half-time Community Minister at Cotuit Federated Church on Cape Cod, where he lives.

He is also deeply involved in local social and racial justice efforts, having served for many years as a Strategy Team Member and Vice President of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO). Dan has worked closely with First Church, Harvard, and other local institutions to confront the enduring legacies of slavery and colonization in the region. In 2019, he served on the university-wide faculty committee for the Presidential Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, and he currently co-leads the “Harvard and the Landscape of Slavery” tours that he helped create with several chaplain colleagues.