Susannah L. Smith

Acting Director

Susannah L. Smith (she/her) joined the IAS in 2005 as managing director, a position she held until becoming Acting Director in August 2024. She has been central to developing the initial structure and ongoing evolution of IAS programs, particularly Residential Fellows and Research and Creative Collaboratives. From 2008 through 2017, she taught an annual University Honors Program seminar based on IAS programming, “IAS Thursdays: Across the University and Beyond.” Susannah holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota in modern European History, with a specialization in Russian and Soviet social and cultural history. Prior to joining the IAS, she was the managing editor of the Journal of Asian Studies, coordinated administration on the IPUMS-International projects at the Minnesota Population Center, and was assistant director of the Making of the Modern World/Writing Program at Eleanor Roosevelt College, University of California, San Diego. In her free time, she enjoys back-country backpacking, bicycling, and playing Javanese gamelan.

290 Northrop, UMN-TC East Bank