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Peter Plympton Smith | |
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Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from Vermont's at-large district | |
In office January 3, 1989 –January 3, 1991 | |
Preceded by | Jim Jeffords |
Succeeded by | Bernie Sanders |
76th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont | |
In office January 10,1983 –January 3,1987 | |
Governor | Richard Snelling Madeleine Kunin |
Preceded by | Madeleine Kunin |
Succeeded by | Howard Dean |
Personal details | |
Born | Peter Plympton Smith October 31,1945 Boston,Massachusetts,U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Education | Princeton University (BA) Harvard University (MA,EdD) |
Peter Plympton Smith (born October 31,1945) is an American educator and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from the U.S. state of Vermont,the 76th lieutenant governor of Vermont,and an education administrator. He served as the founding president of the Community College of Vermont,the founding president of California State University,Monterey Bay,and as assistant director general for education of the United Nations Educational,Scientific,and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Peter Smith is currently serving as Senior Vice President for Academic Strategies and Development at Kaplan Higher Education Corporation,a global education company owned by the Graham Holding Company. At KHE,he has spearheaded efforts to personalize degree programs and learning support systems,while strengthening their outcomes-based pedagogy at the program and course level. Smith is also developing new market positions and services for the adult postsecondary education market.
Smith was born in Boston,Massachusetts,and was raised in Burlington,Vermont. He is the son of Burlington banker and Vermont State Senator Frederick Plympton Smith. He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1964 and received an A.B. in history from Princeton University in 1968 after completing a senior thesis titled "Burlington,Vermont,1791-1848:A Study of Economic Development and Social Change in a Community." [1] In 1970,he received a M.A.T. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He received his Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in administration,planning,and social policy in 1983.
Smith served one year as an assistant to the Vermont Commissioner of Education. In 1970,he became the founding president of the Community College of Vermont,a Vermont State College. He first ran for office in 1978,defeating incumbent Lieutenant Governor of Vermont T. Garry Buckley in the Republican primary [2] but losing the general election for Lieutenant Governor to Democrat Madeleine M. Kunin. Between 1981 and 1983,he served as a Vermont State Senator representing the Washington County district. After Kunin chose not to run for re-election in 1982,Smith was elected to succeed her. He served two two-year terms. He ran for Governor of Vermont in 1986 but was defeated by Kunin. After two years as Vice President of Development at Norwich University he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1988 for Vermont's at-large congressional district with 41.2% of the vote. In 1990,he was defeated in his bid for re-election by Independent Bernie Sanders. As of 2022 [update] ,he was the last Republican to have represented Vermont in the U.S. House. [3]
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).
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 financial improprieties in the awarding of contracts totaling US$2.2 million to Navigant Consulting without proper UNESCO oversight. Smith was found to have used an established,but alternative bidding procedure in the UNESCO rules. The UNESCO Executive Board ultimately resolved to clarify and strengthen the bidding procedures at UNESCO. In March 2007,opposition to his reforms and the resulting "negative climate" within the organization resulted in Smith receiving a death threat at his Paris home,and he offered his resignation.
In April 2016,University of Maryland University College announced that Smith had been appointed to a two-year term as the Orkand Endowed Chair and Professor of Innovative Practices in Higher Education. In this position,Smith is responsible for identifying and implementing measures to improve delivery of the school's learning and support services. [4]
Smith was one of thirty former Republican congressmen to sign a letter opposing Donald Trump's candidacy for president. [5] In 2021,he published a book about the American system of higher education. [6]
He is the older brother of former state representative Charles Plympton Smith.
Madeleine Kunin is a Swiss-born American diplomat,author and politician. She served as the 77th governor of Vermont from 1985 until 1991,as a member of the Democratic Party. She also served as United States Ambassador to Switzerland from 1996 to 1999. She was Vermont's first and,to date,only female governor as well as the first Jewish governor of Vermont. She was also the first Jewish woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state. Since 2003,Kunin has been a James Marsh Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont.
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Charles Plympton Smith is the Interim Executive Director of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington,Vermont. He is a former banker and politician from the U.S. state of Vermont who served in the Vermont House of Representatives. The son of banker and state senator Frederick Plympton Smith,he received a B.A. from Harvard College in 1978,following which he attended the University of Melbourne,Melbourne Australia on a one-year Rotary Foundation Scholarship. From 1975 to 1978 he served two terms in the Vermont House of Representatives,alternating semesters between Harvard and the legislature,which meets only in the spring. He was nominated by both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Peter Thacher Washburn was a Vermont lawyer,politician and soldier. A veteran of the American Civil War,he served as the 31st governor of Vermont as a Republican from 1869 to 1870,and was the first Vermont Governor to die in office.
The Vermont Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Vermont.
Peter Elliott Shumlin is an American politician from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as the 81st governor of Vermont from 2011 to 2017.
Thomas L. Hayes was the 71st lieutenant governor of Vermont and a Vermont Supreme Court Justice. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1985 by then-Governor Madeleine M. Kunin.
George B. "Jeb" Spaulding is an American politician and the former chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges. He previously served as Vermont State Treasurer and as Governor Peter Shumlin's secretary of administration.
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Letitia Pearl Caroline Chambers was the first woman to head the staff of a major standing committee of the U.S. Senate. Chambers was also a U.S. representative to the United Nations,the founder and chief executive officer of a Washington,D.C.,public policy and consulting firm and was the director of the Heard Museum in Phoenix,Arizona from 2009 to 2012.
The 1990 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on Tuesday,November 6,1990,to elect the U.S. representative from the state's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices.
Levi P. Smith was a Vermont lawyer,banker and politician who served as President of the Vermont State Senate.
The 1986 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 4,1986. Incumbent Democrat Madeleine Kunin ran successfully for re-election to a second term as Governor of Vermont,defeating Republican candidate Peter Plympton Smith and independent candidate Bernie Sanders. Since no candidate won a majority of the popular vote,Kunin was elected by the Vermont General Assembly per the state constitution.
The 1988 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on November 8,1988. Republican nominee Peter Plympton Smith defeated Independent candidate Bernie Sanders and Democratic nominee Paul N. Poirier.
Molly Rose Gray is an American attorney and politician who served as the 83rd lieutenant governor of Vermont from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,she was an assistant attorney general for Vermont from 2018 to 2021.
John Zampieri Jr. was an American politician who served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1965 to 1985,as a member of the Democratic Party. Following his tenure in the state house he served as director of the Vermont Buildings Division.
Frederick P. Smith was a Vermont lawyer,banker,and politician. He was born in Vermont to Levi P. Smith and Julia Pease Smith and attended school in Burlington,Vermont. After graduation from Princeton University in 1937 he received a law degree from Harvard Law School. He served in the United States Navy during World War II.
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