Peter Eckel

• Senior Fellow and Director of Leadership Programs, University of Pennsylvania (USA)

Peter Eckel’s two-decade career as a scholar/practitioner focuses on understanding and strengthening higher education administration, management, and governance. Dr. Eckel has worked with hundreds of college, university and state system administrators, faculty, and trustees on issues such transformational change; student learning and educational quality; diversity and equity; academic leadership; presidential transitions; academic joint ventures/partnerships; internationalization; shared governance; institutional entrepreneurialism; administrative teamwork; and effective trusteeship.

Dr. Eckel joined Penn GSE as a Senior Fellow and Director of Leadership Programs with the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD). Prior to joining Penn GSE, he served as Vice President for Programs and Research at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) and held several positions at the American Council on Education (ACE), including ending his tenure there as Director of the Center for Effective Leadership. He led AGB’s National Conference on Trusteeship and developed its offerings for international trustees and leaders. He created AGB’s presidential agenda to strengthen presidential leadership through effective governance, and led the design of AGB’s Institute for Public University Presidents and Board Leaders. At ACE, he was the founding director of numerous leadership programs, including the ACE Institute for New Chief Academic Officers, the Advancing to the Presidency workshop, the CAO-CBO Strategic Partnership workshop, and the ACE Presidential Roundtable Series. He has worked internationally on leadership, governance, and institution change in Malaysia, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the U.K., and Kazakhstan.

He additionally serves as trustee at the University of La Verne (CA), serving on the academic and student affairs, finance, enrollment, and governance committees.