Peter Stearns


Peter Nathaniel Stearns is a professor at George Mason University, where he was provost from January 1, 2000 to July 2014.
Stearns was Chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the Dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. In addition, he founded and edited the Journal of Social History. While at Carnegie Mellon, he developed a pioneering approach to teaching World History, and has contributed to the field as well through editing, and contributing to, the Routledge series, Themes in World History. He is also known for various work on the nature and impact of the industrial revolution and for exploration of new topics, particularly in the history of emotions.
He attended Harvard College and later received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. In his prolific career as an author and editor, he has written or edited over 135 different books. Stearns served as founding chair of the Advanced Placement World History committee and as Vice President for Teaching of the American Historical Association. He is active in historical groups such as the American Historical Association, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association and the International Society for Research on Emotion.

Early life

Peter Stearns was born in London, but of American parents and was an American citizen at birth. He was raised in Urbana, Illinois and attended public grade school and then the University of Illinois High School. After graduating from Harvard College, summa cum laude, he had a traveling fellowship in Europe and then returned to complete his PhD at Harvard. He has four children and a stepson, and five grandchildren. He has held positions at the University of Chicago, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon and now George Mason.
Please note that his account is recurrently hacked, which may be good sport but is periodically annoying. Stearns will attempt to monitor the account regularly,.

Works

His books include: