Kimberly Jean Smith, an English instructor and coordinator of the Writing Center at Gavilan College, is a fiction writer.

In 2008 she was accepted into Squaw Valley Community of Writers, New York University's Intensive Summer Writing Institute and the Juniper Institute, where she studied with Margot Livesey, Ruth Danon, Mark Childress and Cai Eammons.

Bookshop Santa Cruz  awarded her short story "Swallowed" in its 2006 annual contest. Her writing has also appeared in publications including: The Rio Grande Review, The Collective; Girlfriends Magazine; Metro Santa Cruz; The Californian; Homestead Review; Portland Press Herald; Casco Bay Weekly; Independent Film & Video Monthly; and Outweek Magazine.

Along with the Writing Center staff, Kimberly presented Each One Teach One: Writing Workshops in the "Basic Skills" Classroom at the 2008 Northern California Writing Centers Association Conference. A Haiku-hike writing workshop she co-developed was presented at Escuela Internacional, Malaga, Spain and annually at Gavilan College from 2000-2006.

She was a member of the 2006 Leadership Gilroy class, receiving intensive training in government and community service. She was also a teacher-leader for the Central California Writing Project where she was twice granted a fellowship for her work as a writer and teacher, presenting at the project's 2005 Writing Matters Conference, and as a co-researcher for the Academic Language Learners Project. 

In the 1990s, she was honored by the Main Press Association for news analysis in a daily paper. Additionally, the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families granted her a fellowship for her work as journalist .

A 1993 graduate of the Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism, Kimberly earned a Masters of Science degree. In 1988 she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California Institute of the Arts.  Before transferring, she was a student at Hartnell and Monterey Penninsula Community Colleges .