Peter served as Duke University’s Provost for 15 years, working closely with Presidents Nannerl Keohane and Richard Brodhead. He oversaw strategic, programmatic, budgetary, and administrative decision-making under the university’s Responsibility Center Management (RCM) system. During his tenure, Duke executed a sophisticated strategy that combined planning with targeted financial support and deliberate cultural change. Among the successful, university-wide initiatives in which Peter played a central role were: recruiting outstanding faculty; establishing the institution’s leadership position in interdisciplinary research and teaching; linking classroom study to external, experiential learning; extending Duke’s reach into the world; and focusing teaching and research on global issues.
Peter is the Thomas A. Langford University Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He is a Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science. Prior to serving as Duke’s Provost, Peter was a professor and chair of its Political Science department. He also taught at Harvard University, where he was an Associate Professor of Political Science. Peter is the recipient of the 2014 American Association of University Administrators, Eileen Tosney Award for Career Service in Higher Education, recognizing outstanding, long-term experience as an administrator in the field of higher education. He earned his BA at Oberlin College, and his PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
