Dennis C. Rasmussen
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Dennis C. Rasmussen | |
|---|---|
 Rasmussen in 2021 | |
| Born | May 15, 1978 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Alma mater | Duke University |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Employer | Syracuse University |
| Website | https://www.dennis-rasmussen.com/ |
Dennis Carl Rasmussen (born 15 May 1978) is an American political scientist and author[1] who currently serves as the co-director of Syracuse University's Political Philosophy Program as well as a professor of political science.[2] He is also a senior research associate in Syracuse University's Campbell Public Affairs Institute.[3]
Rasmussen was born in St. Louis, Missouri,[1] and grew up in Lansing, Michigan.[4] He received his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University in 2005 after obtaining his bachelor's from Michigan State University. From 2005 to 2009, he held various positions with Bowdoin College, Brown University, and the University of Houston before joining Tufts University's faculty in 2009 as an assistant professor. By the time he left Tufts for Syracuse University in 2019, he had become a professor and the chair of Tufts' Department of Political Science.[5][6] In 2023, Rasmussen became the first recipient of the Hagerty Family Faculty Fellowship, which entitled Rasmussen to an endowment of $1 million.[7]
Rasmussen published his first book, The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society: Adam Smith's Response to Rousseau, with the Pennsylvania State University Press in 2008; the book was an honorable mention for the Delba Winthrop Award.[8] His second book, The Pragmatic Enlightenment: Recovering the Liberalism of Hume, Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire, was published in 2014 by Cambridge University Press.[9] He followed this with The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought in 2017.[6] This book was shortlisted for the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award and listed on various publications' annual best books lists.[6] Rasmussen's fourth book, Fears of a Setting Sun, was published in 2021 and was named one of the Wall Street Journal's best political books for that year.[6][10] In February 2023, he published The Constitution’s Penman: Gouverneur Morris and the Creation of America’s Basic Charter,[3] which was a runner-up for Journal of the American Revolution's Book of the Year Award.[11]
Rasmussen lives in Cazenovia, New York, with his wife Emily and his son Sam.[4]