Rogers Smith Named President-Elect of American Political Science Association

Rogers Smith has been named as the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) president-elect for the 2017-2018 term. The first political scientist from Penn to serve in the position, Smith, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, will be on APSA’s Council and Executive Committee for three years. Founded in 1903, APSA serves more than 12,000 members in more than 80 countries and brings together political scientists from all fields of inquiry to deepen its members’ understanding of politics, democracy, and citizenship throughout the world.

Trained in the history of political thought and American constitutional law, Smith, who is also Associate Dean for Social Sciences in Penn Arts and Sciences, has long championed a discipline that uses multiple methods to address pressing political issues and plans to bring that expertise to APSA’s Executive Committee.

At Penn, Smith has received the Provost’s Award for Distinguished Ph.D. Mentoring, Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and Dean’s Award for Mentoring Undergraduate Research. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Political and Social Science, and American Philosophical Society. In 2006, Smith founded the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism, now the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy.