Beth A. Simmons (born 1958) is an American academic and notable international relations scholar. She is the Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law, Political Science and Business Ethics at the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and olde ...

. She is a former Director of the

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs A weatherhead, also called a weathercap, service head, service entrance cap, or gooseneck (slang) is a weatherproof service drop entry point where overhead power or telephone wires enter a building, or where wires transition between overhead an ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs at the Department of Government. Her research interests include international relations, political economy, international law, and international human rights law compliance.

Early life

Simmons was born in 1958 in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in California and attended

Monta Vista High School Monta Vista High School is a four-year Public school (government funded), public high school located in the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino, California, Cupertino, California, US. Part of the Fremont Union High School District, the school serves ...

Cupertino, California Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57,8 ...

where she excelled in speech, debate, and music. She earned a BA in political science and philosophy ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from the

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

, an MA in international relations from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, and an MA and PhD in government from Harvard, where she was a student of international relations theorist

Robert Keohane Robert Owen Keohane (born October 3, 1941) is an American academic working within the fields of international relations and international political economy. Following the publication of his influential book ''After Hegemony'' (1984), he has beco ...

Career

Simmons taught as an assistant professor at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

(1991–1996) and as an associate professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(1996–2002) before joining the faculty of

in 2002, where she was Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs and Director of the

. In 2016, she became Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law and Political Science at the

. Simmons served as President of the International Studies Association from 2011-2012. She was succeeded as President by

Etel Solingen Etel L. Solingen (born 1952) is a Distinguished Professor and the Thomas T. and Elizabeth C. Tierney Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of California Irvine. She was President of the International Studies Association (ISA) in 2 ...

of the University of California, Irvine.

Awards and honors

*2009: Elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

*2010: Awarded the

Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research The Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research is an academic honour awarded by the International Science Council, the University of Bergen and the European Consortium for Political Research, in memory of the political scientist a ...

. *2011:

Karl Deutsch Award The Karl Deutsch Award is awarded by the International Political Science Association (IPSA) each year an IPSA World Congress of Political Science is held. The recipient of the award presents the Karl Deutsch Lecture or leads a special session at t ...

*2012:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

*2013: Elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

*2017: Elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Books

* Won the Woodrow Wilson Award from

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...

for best book published in the United States on government, politics, or international affairs. *

References

External links

Simmons' Harvard faculty pageUniversity of Pennsylvania Law School faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Beth 1958 births Living people American women political scientists American political scientists Duke University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Chicago alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty University of Redlands alumni Winners of the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research International law scholars American women academics 21st-century American women