 
Steven B. Smith |
Steven B. Smith, who has been appointed as the Alfred Cowles Professor of Government, is a specialist in political philosophy and the history of political thought.
Smith, who is also master of Branford College, has written widely on political philosophers Hegel, Aristotle, Rousseau and Spinoza. His books include "Reading Althusser: An Essay on Structural Marxism"; "Hegel's Critique of Liberalism: Rights in Context," which examines the Hegelian critique of individual rights; and "Spinoza: Liberalism and the Question of Jewish Identity," which explores Spinoza's efforts to defend freedom of opinion and toleration of religious diversity. He is currently working on a book titled "Spinoza's Book of Life."
Smith has also written about classical political theory, liberalism, Marxism, American political thought and the philosophy of the social sciences. His articles have ap-peared in such publications as Review of Politics, American Political Science Review, Political Theory, Social Science Quarterly, Ethics and Poetics Today, among others. He has also written a number of book chapters and book reviews.
A graduate of the University of Chattanooga in Tennessee, Smith earned an M.Phil. in political science from the University of Durham in England and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He was an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin for two years before joining the Yale faculty in 1984. He was appointed a full professor in 1990.
At Yale, Smith served as director of graduate studies in the Department of Political Science from 1990 to 1993 and was director of the Special Undergraduate Program in the Humanities 1994 to 1999. He also has served as director of undergraduate studies for the Directed Studies Program.
Appointed master of Branford College in 1996, Smith will begin his second five-year term in that position in July of this year. As master, he oversaw the recent major renovation of the residential college. He has served on a number of University committees, including the Teaching and Learning, Porter-Fields Prize and Course of Study committees, and the Executive Committee on Programs in the Humanities.
The Yale political scientist has been an invited speaker at universities throughout the nation, including the University of Chicago, the Benjamin N. Cardoza School of Law and the University of Texas. He also has been a frequent lecturer at the Midwestern Political Science Association Convention and at meetings of the American Political Science Association, of which he is a member.
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