Peter March Appointed University Professor
The Rutgers University Board of Governors has appointed Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Peter March as University Professor effective July 1. March served as executive dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick from 2014 to 2022.
The longest-serving executive dean in SAS’s history, March made significant and lasting contributions to the school while serving as a strong advocate for the liberal arts tradition at Rutgers.
March developed and nurtured robust research programs across the humanities, natural, and social sciences; improved the school’s array of administrative services, including budgeting and strategic planning; and forged a historic partnership between SAS and the Rutgers Alumni Association that brought young and veteran alumni together in a single engaged community.
The student experience was a central focus of March’s leadership. He improved student advising services, integrated the SAS Educational Opportunity Fund with the Office of Undergraduate Education, and created the Career Explorations in the Arts and Sciences program that helps students from all majors find their calling and plan their post-college lives.
March also started what is now a beloved SAS tradition: a schoolwide convocation that each year fills Jersey Mike’s Arena three times over.
March is widely respected as a mathematics scholar, specializing in probability theory and its applications to biology and statistical physics, as well as the differential geometry of graphs. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received the Centennial Medal from the Institute of International Education. He serves in many national roles, including with the Science Policy Committee of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Prior to joining Rutgers, March was a faculty member and academic leader at The Ohio State University, serving as chair of the mathematics department, dean of the division of natural and mathematical sciences, and associate director of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute. He served four years as director of the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation.
As University Professor, March plans to teach and conduct research and educational activities across the disciplines, schools and campuses of Rutgers.
