Peter Plympton Smith (Education administrator)

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Peter Plympton Smith (b. October 31, 1945) is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from the U.S. state of Vermont, and an education administrator.

Smith is the son of a Burlington, Vermont banker and Vermont State Senator Frederick P. Smith, Peter P. Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and was raised in Burlington, Vermont, enrolled at Phillips Academy, from which he graduated in 1964. He received a B.A. in history from Princeton University in 1968. In 1970, Peter P. Smith received a master of arts in teaching, through a two year course, from the Harvard School of Education. In 1983, he received his EdD from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in administration, Planning, and social Policy. Smith served one year as an assistant to the Vermont Commissioner of Education. In 1970, he became the founding president of the Community College of Vermont, a Vermont State College. He was married to the former Sally Giddings, an artist, who filed for divorce in Monterey, CA. He is the brother of Charles Plympton Smith.

In 1978, Smith 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], he served as a Vermont state senator representing a district in Washington County. Elected Lieutenant Governor of Vermont in 1983, he served two, two-year terms. In 1986, as Republican nominee for Governor of Vermont, Smith lost to his former political foe, Democratic Governor Madeleine M. Kunin. After two years as Vice President of Development Norwich University he ran for Congress in 1988 as congressman at-large, and served one two-year term before losing to independent Bernard Sanders.

With the staff of the Council for Adult in Experiential Learning, Smith contributed to the writing of Your Hidden Credentials: The Value of Personal Learning Outside College, a 1986, Acropolis Books, Ltd. The book, now out of print, promotes college credit for life experience. Smith is author of The Quiet Crisis: How Higher Education Is Failing America, 2004, Anker Publishing Company, Inc. receiving juried acclaim from the American Association of Continuing Education.

From 1991 to 1994, Smith served as dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University. In 1991, he also served as executive director of the U.S. Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education. In 1994, due in part to his work in assessment at GWU, the California State University recruited Smith as founding president of California State University, Monterey Bay, a post that he vacated in 2005. Beginning June 20, 2005, Smith served as assistant director general for education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

At UNESCO, Smith's education experience was expressed by his concern for the wellbeing of learners: “Quality is an issue,” says Smith. "UNESCO has long encouraged the internationalization of education and the involvement of a range of partners, but we must also protect students from inadequate learning resources, low-quality provisions, degree mills and bogus institutions.”

After assuming the post of Assistant Director General (ADG) for Education of UNESCO, Smith made several moves based on his mandate from UNESCO's General Conference and from its Director General in what he describes as an attempt to reform the Education Sector of the institution. These included developing UNESS, a simplified national education support strategy; a Global Action Plan; involvement with the G8 and the World Economic Forum; restructuring the headquarter's governance structure; and implementing a de-centralization plan for UNESCO's Education Sector. After an intensive one-year study contracted out to Navigant Consulting, all but three of over 50 recommendations were approved for implementation by the Director General in June, 2006.

Charges of financial improprieties in the awarding of lucrative contracts totaling USD $ 2.2 million to Navigant Consulting without proper UNESCO oversight led to investigations. In March, 2007, an independent audit by the Auditor-General of UNESCO (Report), the French Cour de Compte, questioned the awarding of seven contracts to Navigant Consulting, a U.S.-based company an employee of which in independent UNESCO staff newsletters and in other forums had been repeatedly linked personally to Smith. The report refers to Smith having used an established, but alternative bidding procedure in the UNESCO rules and thus circumvented the normally competitive bidding process for contracts exceeding USD $100,000.(Report), The UNESCO Executive Board ultimately resolved to clarify and strengthen the bid procedures at UNESCO. Days before the audit's release, Smith submitted his letter of resignation, professing a hostile work environment stemming from his reform efforts and alleging to have received a death threat at his home. The UNESCO Director General Matsuura accepted his resignation

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Preceded by
Madeleine M. Kunin		 Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
1983–1987		 Succeeded by
Howard Dean
Preceded by
James Jeffords		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's At-large congressional district
1989–1991		 Succeeded by
Bernie Sanders