Peter Plympton Smith
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Peter Plympton Smith (b. October 31, 1945) is a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He is the son of prominent banker and state senator Frederick P. Smith.
Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but grew up in Burlington, Vermont, then enrolled at Phillips Academy, from which he graduated in 1964. He received a B.A. in History from Princeton University in 1968, then in 1970 received a Master of Arts in Teaching from the Harvard School of Education. Smith served one year as an Assistant to the Vermont Commissioner of Education, then in 1970 became the first President of the Community College of Vermont. In 1978, he ran for Lieutenant Governor, defeating incumbent Garry Buckley in the Republican primary but losing to Democratic State Representative Madeleine M. Kunin in the general election.
Between 1981 and 1982, Smith served as a Vermont state senator representing a district in Washington County. Smith was elected Lieutenant Governor of Vermont in 1983, serving a pair of two year terms. In 1984, while Lieutenant Governor, he received an Ed.D. from the Harvard School of Education.
In 1986, Smith was the Republican Nominee for Governor of Vermont, a race he lost to his old foe, Democratic Governor Madeleine M. Kunin. After two years as Vice-President of Norwich University he ran for Congress in 1988 as a Republican and served one two-year term before losing to independent Bernard Sanders.
From 1991 to 1994, Smith was dean of the School of Education and Human Development of George Washington University. In 1991, he served as Executive Director of the US Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education. In 1994, Smith was appointed the founding President of California State University, Monterey Bay, from which he stepped down in 2005.
Since June 20, 2005, Smith has been Assistant Director-General for Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He is married to the former Sally Giddings, an artist, and is the brother of Charles Plympton Smith.
In 2006, Smith became embroiled in accusations of improper use of UNESCO Funds. An independent audit by the Auditor-General of UNESCO, the President of the French Cour de Compte (the General Accounting Office), issued a report stating that Smith had awarded "…. contracts in less than a year, with a total value of US$ 2.145 million – equivalent to 5.7% of the total contractual services of the Organization for the biennium - to one particular consulting firm, Navigant Consulting of Chicago" not following established competitive bidding procedures. In March, 2007, the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura sent a message to UNESCO staff stating that "Mr Peter Smith, Assistant Director-General for Education, has tendered his resignation, which I have accepted, and which is effective immediately."
—==Bibliography==
- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Smith_%28Vermont%29&action=edit
- http://www.infoplease.com/biography/us/congress/smith-peter-p.html
- http://www.upenn.edu/heia/people/bio/smith.html
- http://www.mcweekly.com/issues/Issue.06-02-2005/cover/Article.cover_story
- http://www.mcweekly.com/issues/Issue.12-30-2004/news/Article.news_feature_2
- http://sbs.csumb.edu/advocate/documents.html
- http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=41984&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
- Smith, Peter P. (1982) Your Hidden Credentials: the Value of learning Outside College
- Smith, Peter P. (2004) The Quiet Crisis : How Higher Education is Failing America. Anker ISBN 1-882982-70-3
| Preceded by Madeleine M. Kunin |
Lieutenant Governor of Vermont 1983–1987 |
Succeeded by Howard Dean |
| Preceded by James Jeffords |
United States Representative for the At Large Congressional District of Vermont 1989–1991 |
Succeeded by Bernie Sanders |
 |
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Categories: Vermont politician stubs | 1945 births | Living people | American educators | American university and college presidents | Harvard University alumni | Lieutenant Governors of Vermont | People from Burlington, Vermont | People from California | Princeton University alumni | Vermont politicians | Vermont State Senators
