Peter H. Smith

Peter Hopkinson Smith (born January 17, 1940) is a scholar of Latin American history, politics, economics, and diplomacy. He is a distinguished professor emeritus of Political Science and the Simon Bolivar Professor of Latin American Studies at University of California, San Diego. He previously served as a professor of history and department chairman at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and as professor and dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He has been president of the Latin American Studies Association and has also been director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (1989–2001) and director of Latin American Studies (1994–2001) at UCSD.

Organizations Smith has been the president of the Latin American Studies Association as well as being the consultant to the Ford Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Smith received a lifetime achievement award from the Latin American Studies Association in 2013.