Steven B. Smith (born 1951) is the

Alfred Cowles Alfred Cowles III (September 15, 1891 – December 28, 1984) was an American economist, businessman, and founder of the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics, an influential research institute which advanced the field of econometrics in t ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. From 1996 to 2011 he was the Master of

Branford College Branford College is one of the 14 residential colleges at Yale University. Founding Branford College was founded in 1933 by partitioning the Memorial Quadrangle (built in 1917-21) into two parts: Saybrook and Branford with Branford being the ...

at Yale.

Early life and education

Steven Smith was born in 1951. He received his undergraduate degree from

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is part of the University of Tennessee System. History UTC was founde ...

and continued his studies at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

(

St Cuthbert's Society St Cuthbert's Society, colloquially known as Cuth's, is a colleges of Durham University, college of Durham University. It was founded in 1888 for students who were not attached to the existing colleges. St Cuthbert's Society is a Bailey college, ...

), where he completed a M.Phil. in 1976 with his thesis written on the social and political doctrine of

G. W. F. Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

. In 1981, Smith received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Career

Smith was briefly employed as an assistant professor at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

before his 1984 arrival at Yale, where he was granted tenure in 1990. At Yale, he has served in many prominent administrative positions while continuing his research. His areas of expertise are the history of

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

and the role of statecraft in

constitutional government A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in Political Science, Director of the Special Program in the Humanities, and Acting Chair of Judaic Studies and from 1996-2011 served as the Master of Branford College. He is an honorary member of

Manuscript Society Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is reputedly the arts and letters society at Yale. History Founded in 1951, Manuscript was Yale's seventh "landed" senior society. That is, its alumni trust ...

. He has received several awards and prizes including the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize given by

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

and the Lex Hixon ‘63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences in 2009. Smith describes himself as an East Coast Straussian. His books includ
''Spinoza, Liberalism and Jewish Identity (1997)''
''Spinoza's Book of Life (2003)'', ''Reading Leo Strauss'' (2006), ''The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss'' (2009), ''Political Philosophy'' (2012) and his latest, ''Modernity and Its Discontents'' (2016). He is married and has one son.

References

External links

Yale UniversityAcademic Earth Political Philosophy Course"Introduction to Political Philosophy" - Smith's OpenYale Course
Living people American political scientists University of Chicago alumni Yale University faculty University of Tennessee at Chattanooga alumni 1951 births Spinoza scholars Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham Leo Strauss scholars {{polisci-bio-stub