Peter Simons, a historian with broad experience in collaborative teaching and scholarship, will join the New York Six Liberal Arts Consortium as project manager, effective January 17. In this role, Simons will be responsible for coordinating the member schools’ academic and co-curricular collaborations, particularly in faculty development, faculty research, off-campus study, and undergraduate student research. He also will have a key role in implementing the NY6 Mellon Academic Leadership Fellowship Program, a new initiative funded in 2021 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Throughout his academic career, Simons has collaborated with faculty and administrators to develop and execute programs to enrich undergraduate education and faculty research. In addition to classroom teaching, most recently as a lecturer and visiting assistant professor of history at Hamilton and as an adjunct professor at SUNY Morrisville, Simons has served as the History Department undergraduate program coordinator at the University of Chicago, taught in a residential learning program at Florida State University, and contributed to a National Science Foundation-funded international research program, also at Florida State. He holds a B.A. in history and Spanish from Calvin College, master of public policy from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, M.A. in history from the University of Maine-Orono, and a Ph.D. in history from Chicago.
“Peter’s experience as a faculty member and program administrator provides him with a deep understanding of how the Consortium can be a valued resource for our member campuses,” said Amy Cronin, executive director of the New York Six. “His commitment to collaboration in his own work will enable him to effectively connect and engage faculty and other campus colleagues.”