Professor of Classical Studies Peter T. Struck will serve as the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. (Photo by Penn Today)
Peter Struck will assume the role of Stephen A. Levin Family dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, effective August 1.
Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Steven Fluharty announced the appointment in an email to the SAS community on Tuesday morning. As previously announced, current College Dean Paul Sniegowski, will assume the presidency of Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. on August 1.
“A distinguished classicist, award-winning teacher, and innovative program leader, Peter is a passionate champion of the liberal arts whose deep engagement with undergraduate education at Penn prepares him well for this important role,” Fluharty wrote in the announcement.
Struck served as chair of the Department of Classical Studies from 2016 to 2022 and has been a professor at Penn since 1999. His two monographs, “Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts” and “Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Antiquity” have both received the Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit for best book in classical studies.
While at Penn, Struck also directed the Benjamin Franklin Scholars program from 2009 to 2023, and his contributions have included introducing the Integrated Studies first-year curriculum for BFS students and implementing the residential aspect of BFS.
Struck also serves as chair of the SAS Curriculum Committee and the SAS Continuing Education Committee. His teaching has been recognized by the University’s Lindback Award, the SAS Dean’s Award for Innovation in Teaching, and the College of General Studies Distinguished Teaching Award.
In an email forwarding Fluharty’s announcement to students in the College, Sniegowski wrote that the College “will be in great hands” under Struck’s leadership.
“It has been my greatest privilege to serve as College Dean during the past seven years,” Sniegowski wrote. “Though I am moving to a different institution, the College and its students will forever have a place in my heart. I wish you all every success, here at Penn and beyond.”
The shift comes as faculty and administrators in the College are beginning to consider extensive changes to the College curriculum, which was last revised by standing faculty in 2005.
“We’ve got strong messages here [at Penn] about the importance of pre-professional education and that’s great,” Struck previously told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “I also think we need strong messages about the importance of a liberal arts education.”
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