Malinda S. Smith

Dr. Smith holds a PhD in political science from the University of Alberta, an MA, MDA, and a BA magna cum laude in political science and criminal justice, from Western Michigan University.

A Professor of Political Science and a member of the Senior Leadership Team at the UCalgary, Dr. Smith is the inaugural Associate Vice President (Research-EDI), serves as the Co-Chair, President's Task Force on EDIA, Chair, Dimensions EDI Executive and Steering Committees, and Lead on the CFREF-One Child Every Child Equitable Pathways Accelerator and Equitable Pathways Council.

Nationally, Dr. Smith serves on SSHRC Council and Executive, Statistics Canada’s Immigration and Ethnocultural Statistics Advisory Committee, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) External EDI Advisory Board. She is the vice chair of the Scarborough Charter Steering Committee.

Dr. Smith’s current research focuses on equity, pluralism, and hidden figures in the Canadian academy. Dr. Smith is the co-author, editor and co-editor of eight books and numerous articles. She is co-author of The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (2017); co-editor of States of Race: Critical Race Feminism for the Twenty-First Century (2010); Nuances of Blackness: Teaching, Learning and Researching While Black (2022), and Critical Concepts: An Introduction to Politics (2023).

Dr. Smith was the recipient of a 2018 P.E. Trudeau Foundation Fellow, a 2018-2019 ISA-Canada Distinguished Scholar Award, and in 2021 was appointed a Senior Fellow at the Massey College, University of Toronto, and received a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa from Simon Fraser University (2021).

The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Dr. Smith is a recipient of a Friends of Diversity Award from the Diversity Magazine (2024), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Calgary Black Chamber (2023), a Susan S. Northcutt Award from the International Studies Association (2020), 100 Accomplished Black Women Honouree (2020), Rosalind Smith Professional Award (2020), the Equity Award from the Canadian Association of University Teachers (2015), and Academic Woman of the Year Award, from the Academic Women’s Association (2011).