Lahra Smith is a Political Scientist with a particular interest in African politics, migration and refugees, and citizenship and equality. Her book,Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender and National Identity in Ethiopia, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. She teaches courses on migration, women and politics and theory and policy in Africa. She is the CSJ Faculty Fellow for African Migration and a research fellow with the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM). Prof. Smith has taught and conducted research in refugee camps in East and Southern Africa, and has ongoing research on civic education programs in Kenya, particularly focused on the role of teachers as active agents of citizen-creation.

Dr. Smith is a First Gen college student, and is a mentor in the Georgetown Scholarship Program (GSP) and loves working with international students, First Gen students and others who might have had unique pathways to Georgetown.