Professor & Chair
Ph.D, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1994
Professor Smith examines how political institutions affect political behavior across and within the American states. He has published more than a hundred scholarly articles, chapters, and reports, including in the discipline’s leading outlets. A past-president of the State Politics and Policy Section of the APSA, Smith is currently studying how initiatives, redistricting, and electoral laws shape political participation. He is the author of Tax Crusaders and the Politics of Direct Democracy (Routledge, 1998), coauthor of Educated by Initiative (Michigan, 2004), and co-author State and Local Politics: Institutions and Reform (Cengage, 2015). Dr. Smith has extensive international experience, including as Senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Ghana in 2000-01.
Dr. Smith’s C.V. is available here. You can also follow Dr. Smith on Twitter.