Rogers M. Smith (born September 20, 1953) is an American political scientist and author noted for his research and writing on American constitutional and political development and political thought, with a focus on issues of citizenship and racial, gender, and class inequalities. His work identifying multiple, competing traditions of national identity including “liberalism, republicanism, and ascriptive forms of Americanism” has been described as "groundbreaking." Smith is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the president of the American Political Science Association (APSA) for 2018–2019. Education Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and raised in Springfield, Illinois, Smith graduated with a B.A. in political science from James Madison College, Michigan State University in 1974, including study abroad at the University of Kent in England. He attended graduate school at Harvard University, completing his M.A. in 1978 and his PhD degree in government in 1980. Career Smith taught at Yale University from 1980 to 2001, as the Alfred Cowles Professor of Government and the co-director of the Center for the Study of Race, Inequality, and Politics. In 2001 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science. Smith was the founding chair of the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism, later the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, from 2006 to 2017. Smith was also a co-founder of the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia, a partnership between the university and public schools. He co-chaired its advisory council from 2006 until 2018. Smith was associate dean for the social sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania from 2014 to 2018. Smith was president of the Politics and History section of American Political Science Association (APSA) for 2001–2002 and served on the APSA Council in 2005 and 2006. He was vice president of the American Political Science Association in 2008–2009 and co-president of the Migration and Citizenship section of APSA from 2013 to 2015. He served as president of the American Political Science Association in 2018–2019. Recognition Smith's writings have received numerous awards. Civic Ideals (1997) was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in history, and won several awards from the American Political Science Association (APSA), the Organization of American Historians, and the Social Science History Association. Smith was elected a fellow of the American Academy of