Dr. Dell was raised in a family who worked in his local public school district as janitors, secretaries, bus drivers and teachers. His political career began at the age of ten when his school system closed due to a failed budget process and he stood next to his parents and grandparents at a local protest. A commitment to the common good, using common political approaches needed for all, brought Kyle not only to a twenty year career in higher education, but also to Vote Smart. He served as the director of the National Political Awareness Test in the 1996 election and later joined the Founding Board where he was elected Vice President. In 2022 he assumed the role of President of Vote Smart following the retirement of its founding president, Richard Kimball.
Dr. Dell has substantial experience in politics and public education over the course of his career. His work includes extensive grant writing and fundraising with successful support from the U.S. Department of Education, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Hillsdale Foundation, Kenan Family Foundation and the U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Dell holds a baccalaureate degree in political science from Kalamazoo College, a master’s degree in political science from Boston College and a Ph.D. from Boston College in American political science. In addition to serving as a dean at Guilford College, he taught American politics and environmental policy at the college since 2003. In 2021 he retired from Guilford as a professor emeritus. In 2013-14, he served as an American Council on Education Fellow at North Carolina State University.
Dell has served several boards and public projects, inside higher education and beyond, including the Board of Trustees for the Greensboro Farmers Market in Greensboro, NC; review committees for the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the Review of Policy Research; the Committee on Outreach and Engagement of the Council of Fellows for the American Council on Education; the Greensboro Public Library’s Kathleen Clay Edwards branch; and as a faculty representative to the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation. His scholarly work in political science, environmental policy and sustainable food systems has also resulted in invited presentations to institutions in Indonesia, New Zealand, Italy and with partners such as Google, Apple, American Conference of Academic Deans and the Small Business Institute.
Dr. Dell lives with his wife, Dr. Erin Brownlee Dell, splitting their time between Greensboro, North Carolina and Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Brownlee Dell serves as the Chief of Staff at Swarthmore College.
To contact Kyle, email him at kyle@votesmart.org or call 515-989-6363.
