Kelly Smith

Kelly Eitzen Smith, PhD is an applied sociologist, program manager of the Native Peoples Technical Assistance Office (NPTAO), and Assessment Coordinator for the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning in the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA). Smith received her PhD in sociology from the University of Arizona in 1999. Prior to joining NPTAO and CAPLA, she taught in the University of Arizona’s sociology department and was the Associate Director of the Center for Applied Sociology. She is co-author of Social Problems (15th edition, with D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn), In Conflict and Order, Understanding Society (14th edition, with D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn), and Experiencing Poverty: Voices from the Bottom (Second Edition, with D. Stanley Eitzen). As Program Manager of NPTAO, Dr. Smith provides training to the UA research community on research and engagement with tribal communities. She provides oversight of all sponsored research projects and IRB submissions involving Native Nations. In the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, she assists with all aspects of accreditation including data collection, surveys, annual reports, program assessment, and self-study reports. 

Smith's research interests include housing and transportation affordability, poverty, urban social problems, tribal communities, community and neighborhood planning, and transit oriented development.