Kelly Smith

Assistant Professor

My areas of specialty include state politics and public policy. My research focuses on American politics with a particular emphasis on the relationship among state legislative politics, bureaucratic politics and democratic governance.

  • PhD, political science, Brown University
  • MA, political science, Brown University
  • BA, political science, Providence College

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Kelly Smith

Biography

Kelly Smith received her PhD and MA in political science from Brown University. She is currently examining the ways in which bureaucratic networks facilitate policy learning among bureaucrats and legislators during the diffusion of policy and its consequences for states as laboratories of democracy. Previously, Smith was a postdoctoral research associate on the education standards research team at the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy at Brown University.

More About Kelly Smith

Areas of Expertise

  • States politics and policy
  • Public policy
  • Policy diffusion
  • Bureaucratic politics

Course Sampling

  • POLI 101S: Introduction to American National Government
  • POLI 102S: Florida Politics
  • PUBHV 140: Introduction to Public Health
  • POLI 211: The Politics of Public Policy
  • POLI 315: Political Analysis
  • POLI 325: American Health Care Policy

  • Kelly B. Smith, "Learning Without Widespread Adoption: Early Childhood Education in the American States" Early release in Publius: The Journal of Federalism, March 28th, 2019.
  • David K. Cohen, Susan L. Moffitt, and Kelly B. Smith. The Influence of Practice on Policy. 2018. In Shaping Education Policy: Power and Process, Douglas E. Mitchell, Robert Crowson, and Dorothy Shipps (eds.). Taylor and Francis.

Other Publications:

  • Kelly B. Smith. "In Pre-k, Florida Places Excels in Quantity, but Lags in Quality," Orlando Sentinel, July 30th, 2019.
  • Susan L. Moffitt, Matthew J. Lyddon, Michaela Krug O'Niell, Kelly B. Smith, Marie Schenk, Cadence Willse, and David K. Cohen. "Frontlines Perspectives on Instructional Support in the Common Core Era." Prepared for the Getting Down to Facts II Project.
  • Susan L. Moffitt, Matthew J. Lyddon, Domingo Morel, Michaela Krug O'Neill, Kelly B. Smith, Cadence Willse, and David K. Cohen. "State Structures for Institutional Support in California." Prepared for the Getting Down to Facts II Project.