College of Education and Human Development

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development

Gary Peter

  • Pronouns: he, him, his

  • Senior Lecturer

  • Office Hours

    Fall 2023 (ONLINE ONLY):
    Mondays/Wednesdays 2-3; Tuesdays 3:30-4:30; and by appointment

Gary Peter

Areas of interest

Academic writing and rhetoric
Writing in the workplace 
First year experience 
Law in popular culture
Creative writing
 

Degrees

M.F.A., Sarah Lawrence College, Creative Writing (fiction) 
J.D., William Mitchell College of Law
B.S.W./B.A., cum laude, University of St. Thomas 
Additional Graduate Studies in Writing and Composition Theory, University of Minnesota and University of Iowa Writers Workshop

Biography

Profile

I've been at the University of Minnesota since 2002 and have taught a wide variety of courses in a wide range of disciplines to both undergraduate and graduate students. Before starting my teaching career I worked as an attorney for the Supreme Court of Iowa, practiced corporate and municipal law, and then spent many years in the legal publishing industry. In addition to teaching, I am also a fiction writer. My short fiction collection, Oranges, won the 2016 New Rivers Press Many Voices Project competition and was published in Fall 2018. It also received the gold medal for LGBT+ fiction in the Independent Publishers Book Awards, the Midwest Book Award, and was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Most recently I was awarded the 2020 Acheven Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction and my debut novel, The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen, was published by Fitzroy Books in Summer 2022.

Courses taught

EDHD 1525W—First-Year Inquiry: Multidisciplinary Ways of Knowing

OLPD 1908W—Reflections of Justice: Images of the Law in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture

OLPD 2811—Societies of the Future: Changing Work Contexts

OLPD 3324W—Writing in the Workplace for Education and Human Development Majors

OLPD 5087—MA Research Seminar

Publications

Peter, G. (2022). The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen. Fitzroy Books. 

Peter, G. (2018). Oranges: Stories. New Rivers Press.

Peter, G. (2014). Teaching a writing intensive law and popular culture freshman seminar. In M. Asimow, K. Brown & D.R. Papke (Eds.), Law and Popular Culture: International Perspectives (pp. 383-399). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Stebleton, M., Jensen, M., & Peter, G. (2010). Enhancing student engagement in a multidisciplinary, first-year experience course. College Teaching Methods and Styles Journal, 6, 1-6.

Stebleton, M.J., Peter, G., & Jensen, M. (2010). Promoting student engagement in a large first- year inquiry program: Keys to success. E-Source for College Transitions, 7(6). National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

Presentations

Peter, G., Delehanty Kelly, M., Harrison, K.C., & Cory, K. (2015, February). Deepening student learning through multidisciplinary assignments in a learning community. Presentation at the Focusing on the First-Year Experience Conference, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Peter, G., Delehanty Kelly, M., & Harrison, K.C. (2014, February). Deepening student learning through multidisciplinary assignments in a learning community. Presentation at the meeting of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Conference, San Diego, CA.

Peter, G. (2013, June). Teaching a writing intensive law and popular culture freshman seminar. Presentation at the meeting of the International Perspectives: Law and Popular Culture Conference, Tilburg University, the Netherlands. 

Cory, K., Delehanty Kelly, M., Lee, A., Peter, G., Wambach, C., & Williams, R. (2013, February). Community, college, classroom: creating a vibrant and sustainable common book program. Presentation at the meeting of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Conference, Orlando, FL. 

Peter, G., & Jensen M. (2011, February). Evaluating group video projects in relation to University of Minnesota student learning  outcomes. Presentation at the meeting of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Peter, G., & Jensen, M. (2011, February). “iPads for all.” Presentation at the meeting of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Stebleton, M.J., Peter, G., & Jensen, M. (2010, February). Food for thought...and action: A multidisciplinary approach to the first-year inquiry. Presentation at the meeting of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Conference, Denver, CO.