Peter Starr is professor of literature at American University. He served as provost from June 2020 through June 2023. During his tenure, he worked to advance inclusive excellence, create opportunities for dynamic and flexible teaching and learning, enhance AU’s research infrastructure, strengthen AU's portfolio of lifelong learning options, and support the university’s academic leadership. Working together with campus leaders, he has strengthened AU’s Covid response, launched an Office of Global and Immersive Studies to consolidate AU’s efforts in study abroad and international recruitment, and led significant new efforts in the online and professional learning spaces.

Before becoming AU’s provost, Dr. Starr served as dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences for 11 years. As CAS dean, Dr. Starr co-led the development of the AU Core curriculum, made significant contributions to the path-breaking Reinventing the Student Experience (RiSE) project, and raised nearly $100 million to further the College’s goals. In his time at AU, Dr. Starr has helped to increase external funding of faculty scholarship and overseen the establishment of several highly productive research entities, including the Antiracist Research and Policy Center and the Center for Neuroscience and Behavior.

Prior to joining the Eagle family, Dr. Starr was a professor of French and comparative literature at the University of Southern California. He served as interim dean of USC’s College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences from 2006 to 2007. He is the author of two traditional books—Logics of Failed Revolt: French Theory After May ’68 (Stanford UP) and Commemorating Trauma: The Paris Commune and its Cultural Aftermath (Fordham UP); of a multimedia project entitled We the Paranoid; and of WisCult, an occasional blog on wisdom and culture. Dr. Starr holds a BA with distinction from Stanford University and an MA in French and PhD in comparative literature from The Johns Hopkins University.