Beth A. Simmons
Beth Simmons | |
|---|---|
 Simmons in 2012 | |
| Born | Beth Ann Simmons 1958 (age 67–68) California, U.S. |
| Education | University of Redlands (BA) University of Chicago (MA) Harvard University (MA, PhD) |
| Known for | Mobilizing for Human Rights, Who Adjusts? |
| Title | Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law, Political Science and Business Ethics |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | University of Pennsylvania Law School |
| Robert Keohane | |
Other academic advisors | James Alt, Stephan Haggard |
Doctoral students | Ben Ansell, Adam Chilton, Katerina Linos |
Beth Ann Simmons (born 1958) is an American academic and international relations scholar. She is the Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law, Political Science and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.[1] She is a former director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University 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
[edit]Simmons was born in 1958 in the San Francisco Bay Area in California and attended Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California where she excelled in speech, debate, and music. She earned a BA in political science and philosophy summa cum laude from the University of Redlands, an MA in international relations from the University of Chicago, and an MA and PhD in government from Harvard, where she was a student of international relations theorist Robert Keohane.
Career
[edit]Simmons taught as an assistant professor at Duke University (1991–1996) in the research department at the International Monetary Fund (1995-1996)[2] and as an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley (1996–2002) before joining the faculty of Harvard University in 2002, where she was Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
In 2016, she became Andrea Mitchell University Professor in Law and Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.[3][4]
Simmons served as President of the International Studies Association from 2011–2012.[5] She was succeeded as president by Etel Solingen of the University of California, Irvine. Her research is now concentrated on internation borders, border governance, human rights, and the diffusion of norms in global politics.[6] In September 2025, Simmons became President of the American Political Science Association.[7]
Awards and honors
[edit]- 2009: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[8]
- 2010: Awarded the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research.[8][9]
- 2011: Karl Deutsch Award
- 2012: Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2013: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
- 2017: Elected to the American Philosophical Society[10]
Books
[edit]- Simmons, Beth (1994), Who Adjusts? Domestic Sources of Foreign Economic Policy During the Interwar Years, 1923-1939, Princeton University Press, pp. 334, ISBN 978-0691017105 Won the Woodrow Wilson Award from American Political Science Association for best book published in the United States on government, politics, or international affairs.[11]
- Simmons, Beth (2009), Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521712323 Was recognized by the American Society for International Law, the International Social Science Council and the International Studies Association as the best book of the year in 2010. [12]
References
[edit]- ↑ Penn Law Faculty: Beth Simmons
- ↑ "Beth Simmons | Department of Political Science". live-sas-www-polisci.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved October 3, 2025.
- ↑ "Beth Simmons". Penn Law. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
- ↑ "Simmons elected to American Philosophical Society". University of Pennsylvania. May 11, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
- ↑ "Presidents of ISA".
- ↑ "Dr. Beth A. Simmons – Hagler Institute for Advanced Study". hias.tamu.edu. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
- ↑ "Penn professor named 2025-26 president of American Political Science Association". Penn professor named 2025-26 president of American Political Science Association - The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
- 1 2 Beth Simmons, Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Harvard University, archived from the original on May 11, 2012, retrieved March 4, 2018
- ↑ "The winner of the XVth Stein Rokkan Prize" (PDF). International Social Science Council. June 23, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- ↑ "Newly Elected - April 2017". American Philosophical Society. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
- ↑ Powell, Alvin (October 16, 2003), "Worth more than the paper they're written on", Harvard Gazette, retrieved July 4, 2012
- ↑ "Beth Simmons". www.law.upenn.edu. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
External links
[edit]
- 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
- Presidents of the International Studies Association