In 1990, he was defeated in his bid for re-election by Independent Bernie Sanders. , he was the last Republican to have represented Vermont in the U.S. House. Funded by a Mina Shaughnessy Fellowship, Smith wrote Your Hidden Credentials: The Value of Personal Learning Outside College, (Acropolis Books, Ltd, 1986). The book, now out-of-print, promotes college credit for life experience. Smith is also the author of The Quiet Crisis: How Higher Education Is Failing America, (Anker Publishing Company, Inc.,2004) which received juried acclaim from the American Association of Continuing Education. His third book, Harnessing America's Wasted Talent: New Dimensions for Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2010) was published in early 2010. His fourth book, Free-range Learning in the Digital Age: The Emerging Revolution in College, Career, and Education (SelectBooks) was published in 2018. From 1991 to 1994, Smith served as dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University. In 1991, he also served as executive director of the U.S. Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education. In 1994, due in part to his work in assessment at GWU, the California State University recruited Smith as founding president of California State University, Monterey Bay, a post that he vacated in 2005. Beginning June 20, 2005, Smith served as assistant director general for education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Work at UNESCO At UNESCO, Smith's education experience was expressed by his concern for the wellbeing of learners: "Quality is an issue," says Smith. "UNESCO has long encouraged the internationalization of education and the involvement of a range of partners, but we must also protect students from inadequate learning resources, low-quality provisions, degree mills and bogus institutions." After assuming the post of Assistant Director General (ADG) for Education of UNESCO, Smith made several moves based on his mandate from UNESCO's General Conference and from its Director General in an attempt to reform the Education Sector of the institution. These included developing UNESS, a simplified national education support strategy; a Global Action Plan; involvement with the G8 and the World Economic Forum; restructuring the headquarters governance structure; and implementing a de-centralization plan for UNESCO's Education Sector. After an intensive one-year study contracted out to Navigant Consulting, all but three of over 50 recommendations were approved for implementation by the Director General in June 2006. Political fallout to the approved reforms led to anonymous charges of