Stanley Albert Smith was born in Brookville, Kansas November 25, 1889. He attended Kansas State College where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1913, and immediately became an instructor at the college from 1913 to 1920. Smith held professor positions at several universities, including North Dakota Agricultural College (later NDSU), 1920-1923, and the State College of Washington (WSC, later Washington State University), 1923-1955.

While at WSC, Smith was the Head of the Department of Architectural Engineering and the second University Architect, from 1923-1947. While University Architect, he completed fourteen major buildings and fraternity houses. These included: Commons Hall, Duncan Dunn Hall, Bohler Gymnasium, Troy Hall, Hollingbery Field House, Honors Hall, Washington Building, Smith Gymnasium, the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, the Central Steam Plant, Waller Hall, Wilmer-Davis Hall, Pine Manor, and L. J. Smith Hall (Smith Agricultural Engineering Building)." In 1947, the increased load of building work at WSC, Smith resigned as University Architect and concentrated on his position as Head of the Department of Architectural Engineering.

Additionally, Smith took on projects for private homes and commercial buildings in and around the town of Pullman. Many of these projects, both on and off campus, were undertaken by Smith’s private practices: Smith & Rounds in the 1920s during which Fred G. Rounds, an assistant professor of architecture at WSC, worked as Smith’s partner, and Smith & Weller in the 1930s during which Harry C. Weller, also architectural engineering faculty at WSC, worked as Smith’s partner. Occasionally during the 1930s, Smith and Rounds continued to collaborate on projects, including the addition to Pullman High School in the 1930s. This project was undertaken in part through a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. The addition to the high school was carried out from 1933-1934, less than a year after the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act which created the PWA.

Following his position at WSC, Smith became the architectural advisor to the Ataturk University Development Committee in Erzurum, Turkey, which in turn advised the Turkish Ministry of Education in the planning of the new university. This development was a joint Turkish-American effort to strengthen education and research in Turkey at the university level at Ankara University and Ataturk University. In 1954 the University of Nebraska was asked to assist with this effort under the university's Agency for International Development (A.I.D.) contract.