Professor Smith’s public sociology seeks to identify strategic sites of intervention, and use social science research to affect those sites. His work focuses primarily on immigrants, integration, and social policy. He founded and has been the Lead Faculty for the Baruch College-Mexican Consulate Leadership Program; and is a Board Member of the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute. He also routinely advises community organizations and public and private institutions working with immigrants. He also does expert testimony in deportation and wrongful death cases.
Smith is writing two books. Horatio Alger Lives in Brooklyn, But Check His Papers (California, forthcoming) ethnographically follows the paths of 100 children of Mexican immigrants through adolescence into early adulthood, seeking to explain their differing life outcomes. This long term research demonstrates the disruptive effect of long term legal status on the well-being of these youth compared to their US citizen counterparts. This is Still America! Voting Rights and Immigration. (with Andy Beverage) analyzes the political integration of immigrants into Port Chester New York, including the 2007 Voting Rights Act lawsuit against the town, and the subsequent changes in politics after the voting system was changed.
To inquire about professional collaboration or undergraduate research opportunities please email [email protected]
| Grantmaker | Title | Start | End | Abstract Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell Sage Foundation | Long Term Effects of Legal Status/DACA, Across Local Legal Status and Institutional Ecosystems | 1/1/2017 | 12/31/2019 | Click Here |