Commission Members
Craig R. Smith
Craig R. Smith is no longer a member of the Commission. The biography supplied below dates from his or her Commission membership.
Dr. Craig R. Smith was appointed on September 21, 2005, as the alternate representative to the Commission by the California State University Board of Trustees, and serves at the pleasure of the Board of Trustees. His term expired on May 15, 2007.
Dr. Smith is chair of the Department of Film and Electronic Arts and Professor of Communication Studies at California State University, Long Beach, where he also directs the Center for First Amendment Studies.
Dr. Smith's teaching career has taken him to San Diego State University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Alabama in Birmingham, where he founded and chaired the Communication Arts Division.
Dr. Smith has written over fifty scholarly articles and fifteen books including, most recently, The Four Freedoms of the First Amendment (2004) and Daniel Webster and the Oratory of Civil Religion (2005). Dr. Smith resides in Long Beach, California.
Education:
- Ph.D.- Pennsylvania State University, 1969
- M.A. - Queens College of the City University of New York, 1967
- B.A. - History, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1966
Dr. Smith was born in San Diego in 1944, where he attended Sweetwater High School and served as its student body president.
Awards and Honors:
- The Distinguished Teaching, Distinguished Scholar, and Outstanding Professor Awards (16 years at CSULB)
- The Robert O'Neil Award from the National Communication Association for Outstanding Scholarship on First Amendment issues (Twice won)
- The National Speakers Association, Outstanding Professor Award (2001)
- NDEA Fellowship (1967)
- The Sproul Award (1966)
Activities:
- Chair of the departments of Communication Studies, Comparative Literature and Classics, and Journalism (CSULB)
- Member, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (1996-1998)
- Consultant to CBS News convention, election night, and inaugural coverage (1968-1984)
- Full-time Speechwriter for President Gerald Ford and Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca
- Consultant to President George H. W. Bush and Governor Pete Wilson among many others
