Ryan Smith

Ryan A. Smith’s areas of research include the causes and consequences of race, ethnic and gender stratification at work, racial attitudes in America, and the functional use of religion during times of existential crises.  His research has appeared in American Behavioral Scientist; American Sociological Review; Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; Annual Review of Sociology; Du Bois Review; Religions; Review of Religious Research; Social Currents; Social Forces; Social Problems; Social Science Research; Sociological Quarterly; and Work and Occupations.  

Dr. Smith has served on the editorial board of Social Problems and has been a reviewer for Administrative Science Quarterly, American Sociological Review, Work and Occupations, Human Resource Management Journal, Law and Society Review, Rutgers University Press, and the National Science Foundation.

He is a frequent guest lecturer, workshop facilitator, moderator, panelists and consultant to numerous nonprofit, for-profit and government agencies on a variety of issues pertaining to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, the role of race in America, and social policies designed to increase equality of opportunity at work.

Dr. Smith is a former Scholar in Residence at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University.  He also served as the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair of Social Justice at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch (2012 – 2015).  He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, his M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.