Dennis C. Rasmussen

Dennis Carl Rasmussen (born 15 May 1978) is an American political scientist and author who currently serves as the co-director of Syracuse University's Political Philosophy Program as well as a professor of political science. He is also a senior research associate in Syracuse University's Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

Rasmussen was born in St. Louis, Missouri,' He received his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University in 2005 after obtaining his bachelor's from Michigan State University. From 2005 to 2009, he held various positions with Bowdoin College, Brown University, and the University of Houston before joining Tufts University's faculty in 2009 as an assistant professor. By the time he left Tufts for Syracuse University in 2019, he had become a professor and the chair of Tufts' Department of Political Science. In 2023, Rasmussen became the first recipient of the Hagerty Family Faculty Fellowship, which entitled Rasmussen to an endowment of $1 million.

Rasmussen lives in Cazenovia, New York, with his wife Emily and his son Sam. The Pragmatic Enlightenment: Recovering the Liberalism of Hume, Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire (2014). Cambridge University Press. The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought (2017). Princeton University Press. The Constitution's Penman: Gouverneur Morris and the Creation of America's Basic Charter (2023).University Press of Kansas. Frederick Douglass's American Founding: How the Nation's Fiercest Critic Embraced the Constitution'' (2026). Princeton University Press.