Dr. Peter West, a distinguished writer, scholar, and academic leader with decades of experience championing the humanities, has been appointed the next dean of Pratt Institute’s School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SLAS) following a rigorous national search. Dr. West joins Pratt from Mercy University in New York, where he currently serves as the dean of the school of liberal arts. He will begin the role at Pratt on July 7, 2025.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. West to Pratt,” said Provost Donna Heiland. “Dr. West is an accomplished scholar with wide-ranging experience as an academic leader. He brings to Pratt a deep understanding of the liberal arts, and of how powerful it can be to engage with those disciplines across the fields of art, design, architecture, and information. He is also a wonderfully generative thinker who works tirelessly to support faculty in their teaching, research, and creative practices; to center student learning; and to collaborate with staff colleagues in the service of our shared enterprise. I am very much looking forward to working with him to further elevate SLAS and the Institute.”
During his five-year tenure at Mercy University, Dr. West’s primary roles were as the dean of liberal arts and as a professor of English. As dean, he secured over $5 million in federal grants to transform undergraduate education and improve outcomes for underserved populations. He has been integral in advancing interdisciplinary, equity-minded studies—improving inclusion, well-being, and success for both students and faculty. He also assumed the role as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs for a year, and during that short time accomplished a great deal, including updating hiring protocols to emphasize equitable search processes and faculty diversity and establishing institutional partnerships to expand student learning opportunities and build enrollment pipelines.
Prior to his time at Mercy, Dr. West held leadership roles at Adelphi University, including associate provost for student success, associate dean for general education and academic operations, and chair of the English department. He also served as assistant professor of English at the University of Wyoming.
As an administrator at both graduate and undergraduate levels, he has collaborated closely with faculty and executive leadership to promote academic excellence, improve student and faculty experiences and outcomes, and create meaningful relationships with institutions and community partners.
His writing and scholarly work explores the connectivity of humanities and the arts, with notable research on the history of the painted panorama in Great Britain and the United States that culminated in the publication of The Panorama: Texts and Contexts, 1787–1900. This work revealed a long-forgotten mode of visual art and storytelling as a complex cultural form, and exemplifies his commitment to investigating questions of identity, justice, and truth. He has published a range of peer-reviewed articles, op-eds, and book reviews, and has given presentations and led workshops at conferences across the country.
“Pratt is a unique and dynamic institution, one that represents everything that drives my work as an educator and administrator,” said Dr. West. “I’m excited to collaborate closely with Pratt’s outstanding faculty and staff to support and advance the Institute’s mission, combining its belief in the creative act with a longstanding commitment to students, to New York City, and to the power of higher education as a force for change at both the individual and societal levels.”
As dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dr. West will oversee five departments (History of Art and Design, Humanities and Media Studies, Math and Science, Social Science and Cultural Studies, and Writing) and will support both undergraduate and graduate programs across a rich variety of scholarly disciplines. The School’s 63 full-time and almost 230 part-time faculty are expert educators and practitioners in their fields.
Karyn Zieve will continue to serve as interim dean until Dr. West joins the Institute in July.
Dr. West holds a PhD in English from Emory University and a BA in English from Wesleyan University.