The Artist Series began in 1935 with a series of musical evenings sponsored by the Music Department. The series continued to offer only music performances until 1952, when it merged with a speaker series orginated in the Dean of Faculty's office. During the 1950s and 1960s, faculty selected the programs which included such speakers as Eleanor Roosevelt, Bennett Cerf, Margaret Bourke-White, and Ogden Nash and artists such as Marcel Marceau, Julliard String Quartet, Vincent Price and Carlos Montoya. In 1975, as part of the move to a new student union, students began to be more active in the series, assisting with ticket sales and hosting events. Students and staff members were added to the committee responsible for selecting programs. The series was renamed the C. Shaw and Nancy K. Smith Artist Series in 2002 after the move into the Knobloch Campus Center.