Gary Peter
Senior teaching specialist

Gary Peter has been teaching at the University of Minnesota since 2002 and currently teaches courses in American Literature, the social sciences, and in PsTL’s First Year Experience (FYE) program. He previously taught composition, creative writing, and business communications at Metropolitan State University, the University of St. Thomas, and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Before teaching, he worked as a lawyer in private practice and in the legal publishing industry. He earned a B.A. in Journalism and Social Work from the University of St. Thomas, a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (fiction) from Sarah Lawrence College. He has received fellowships for his writing from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Loft Literary Center. He has also been an artist in residence at the Ragdale Foundation, the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and at the Oberfälzer Künstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany. His short fiction and essays have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, and when not teaching he is working on his novel about life on a dairy farm.