Leigh Smith, PhD

Dr. Leigh Smith currently serves as Interim Vice President for Student Affairs, but has previously served as Dean of Advising and Academic Services as well as Dean of the College and Academic Director from April 2011 to August 2022. He has taught courses in literature and French culture since 2005 prior to becoming the Academic Director after serving as interim director of The Aix Center over the 2008-2009 academic year. He continues to teach Comparative Literature and has led the January Term Traveling Seminar: Great Cities of Europe. Dr. Smith’s research has largely focused on the Twentieth-century European novel, and he is currently tracing the novelistic representation of the European city. Dr. Smith has extensive study abroad experience, beginning in 1998 when he worked in the University of North Carolina’s Paris program while still agraduate student. He has taught at the Université de Paul Cézanne and at Aix-Marseille University and has worked with other study abroad programs in France. He has a B.A. from Auburn University and Masters and Ph.D. degrees in comparative literature from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He speaks French, Italian, and German.