Dr. Beth Simmons

Biography

Beth Simmons is the Andrea Mitchell University Professor at Penn Carey Law, where she specializes in international political economy and policy diffusion. Her work demonstrates the influence of international law on human rights outcomes worldwide. Her notable publications include 'Adjusting Domestic Sources of Foreign Economic Policy in the Interwar Years' (1994) and 'Mobilizing Human Rights: International Law and Domestic Politics' (2009), which won the American Political Science Association’s Woodrow Wilson Award and was recognized by the American Society of International Law as the book of the year in 2010. Simmons's current research focuses on global performance assessments, informal governance mechanisms in international affairs, and transnational crime. She has spent a year at the International Monetary Fund and directed the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard. Her leadership roles include past president of the International Studies Association and election to the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research Interests