Smith named acting dean of Graduate School

William P. Smith, professor of psychology and associate dean of the Graduate School, will serve as acting dean of the Graduate School beginning July 1, Provost Thomas G. Burish announced June 14.

Smith will succeed acting dean Peter W. Reed, who will retire at the end of June. Reed will also retire from his faculty position as associate professor of pharmacology.

"Bill Smith has made substantive and innovative contributions to graduate education at Vanderbilt for many years in diverse ways, including personally mentoring many graduate students, serving as Director of Graduate Studies in his department, serving on the Graduate Faculty Council, and this past year serving as associate dean of the Graduate School," said Burish. "These experiences, the deep respect that he has earned from students and faculty, and his strong commitment to graduate education will enable him to do a superb job as acting dean of the Graduate School during this important time of transition."

Smith's research interests include the social sources of self-evaluation, interpersonal and intergroup conflict, and the behavioral and cognitive components of interpersonal and intergroup negotiation. His professional studies have included the violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza regions of Israel.

A widely respected scholar, Smith joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1965 after holding teaching posts at Columbia University and San Diego State College. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Duke University, a master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was later a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at Teacher's College Columbia University.

During his 36-year career at Vanderbilt, Smith has served in a variety of capacities including director of graduate studies (19701973, 19871992), and member of the Faculty Council of the College of Arts and Science (19711973, 19982000), chair of the Department of Psychology of the College of Arts and Science (19751978), member of the Graduate Faculty Council (19851988), member of the Faculty Senate (19881990) and co-coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Social Psychology (1994present). Smith also served on or chaired numerous Vanderbilt committees, including chairing the Vanderbilt-in-Israel Committee, which provided oversight of the cooperative program with Tel-Aviv University (19791986), and is currently co-chair of the Vanderbilt Holocaust Lecture Series Committee. He is a member of multiple national and international professional organizations, and has authored more than 85 books, papers and articles. He has delivered numerous invited addresses.