Longtime Dean Tom Riddell Named Honored Professor

Tom Riddell, associate professor of economics, associate dean of the college and longtime dean of the first-year class, was named the 2011 Honored Professor during Smith College commencement exercises May 15.

Riddell is retiring this year after more than three decades as a Smith faculty member and administrator.

Smith has presented the Honored Professor Award every year since 1987 to a faculty member who has given long and distinguished service to the college.

“This year, the award is presented to a faculty member whose teaching, student advising and commitment to social justice have profoundly enriched our community,” said President Carol T. Christ upon presenting the award. “Thousands of students know him as dean of the first-year class, a position to which he was first appointed in 1993.”

Joining the Smith faculty in 1980, Riddell has taught political economy, the costs and consequences of war, American economic history and the economics of the public sector.

“He views his field as a lens for understanding and advancing society,” said Christ, adding about the Northampton resident, “The Smith community and citizens of Northampton know him as an advocate for diversity, investor responsibility and public education.”

Riddell co-founded the Center for Popular Economics and served on the steering committee of the Five College Peace and World Security Studies Program. In the community, he contributed to the memorialization and redevelopment of the Northampton State Hospital.

Tom Riddell receives the Honored Professor Award from President Carol Christ.