Brian Cantwell Smith

Dean of the Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto

Brian Cantwel Smith is the Dean of the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. While his primary appointment is in FIS, Brian is also cross-appointed to the Departments of Philosophy and Computer Science and the Program in Communication, Culture and Technology at University of Toronto at Mississauga.

Brian received his B.S. (1974), M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following his education, he held senior administrative and research positions at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre in California where he was responsible for creating and managing two research areas, among other duties. His academic career began when he joined Stanford University as the founder and principal investigator for the Centre for the Study of Language and Information and was an associate professor in the philosophy and computer science departments. At the University of Indiana at Bloomington, he was professor of cognitive science and computer science and professor of informatics and a fellow of the Center for Social Informatics in the School of Library and Information Sciences.

Prior to joining FIS, Brian was at Duke University as the Kimberly J. Jenkins University Professor of Philosophy and New Technologies, director of the Centre for Reflection on Science and Technology and professor of philosophy and computer science.

Brian is the author of more than 35 articles and three books, including a seven-volume series entitled The Age of Significance: An Essay on the Origins of Computation and Intentionality, which has been accepted for publication by MIT Press.