Hopkins taught at Swarthmore College[2] from 1967 until his retirement in 2007, where he was the Richter Professor of Political Science.
[5] Hopkins graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy.
[6][full citation needed] He later returned to Yale University, where he received another Master of Arts and his Ph.D. in political science in 1968.
Hopkins was chair of the political science department at Swarthmore from 1983 to 1984 and from 1997 to 2000, and the director of the public policy program from 1989 to 1996.
Hopkins is married, has two grown children, and lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.