Peter Loewen

Family man. Constantly lucky. Dean of @cornellcas. Political scientist. Experimentalist. Data-heavy. Ex-motorcyclist. Rode across the Nubian, once.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

I'm thrilled to be joining @Cornell as the Harold Tanner Dean of @CornellCAS. Cornell’s longstanding commitment to "any student, any study" aligns perfectly with my own values and commitments. The College plays a central role in that. I feel so lucky and can't wait to start.

[Cornell University @Cornell]

Peter John Loewen, director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, has been named the 23rd dean of the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences (@CornellCAS).
https://t.co/7LFW4fyP16

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@JohnHolbein1 Search me if I know, John.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@maverick6899 @nmpenn @AEI You gonna plagiarise the whole thing, or do you have any thoughts of your own on the matter?

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@mattgurney @BenWoodfinden Yes, very much true. And we should think about that whole wide swath of people who stopped work to watch the ceremony or read it the next day in papers.

[Bob Elder @southernphd]

I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him.

In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over.

Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed.

When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye.

She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession.

As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him.

Rest in peace, professor.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@seanjwestwood I don't know, man. Randomly select a political behavior article from the early 90s and see how far you get. Your mileage may vary, of course. Either way, nothing gained from this kind of posting.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@EGAPTweets He was really a tour de force, with great passions and obsessions: the craft and act of writing, the aesthetics of hotels, the merits of various highlighters, and water. But most of all he was generous towards others. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. Vale, Raúl.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

This is terribly sad news. I knew Raúl through @EGAPTweets, but especially through his contributions online. He built up a remarkably large community of followers by simply being himself: generous, meticulous, serious but also silly, and convinced academia mattered. A huge loss.

[FLACSO México @FlacsoMx]

La FLACSO México lamenta el sensible fallecimiento del Dr. Raúl Pacheco-Vega entrañable profesor-investigador, colega, amigo y miembro muy querido de nuestra comunidad académica.

Expresamos nuestras más sentidas condolencias a sus familiares, amistades, colegas, estudiantado y a las comunidades académicas de las que formó parte.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@howardanglin Sure, but this comes up quickly against legislative capacity or simple bandwidth, no?

Why wouldn't Parliament want to delegate some activities to citizens with well defined processes, where there can be a legislative adjustment or check to what that group does?

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@Prof_Nishith_P CP Snow's The Masters.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@JohnIbbitson In the 2000 election, Hugh Winsor was sent to report on Joe Clark's tour, which came through Sackville, NB. I was at an event and he asked me for a quote. He never used it, but it didn't matter. He'd written down my name in his notebook, and spelled it correctly. A thrill!

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@davidsenra @pmarca Perhaps read a biography of Lincoln.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@NMTimMcGrew I don't quite understand your argument. Is it that the LLMs will so impair thinking that no full course of studies in humanities can save students, or that only a completely new course of studies in the humanities will save them?

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@PlannerSean For what it's worth, here's what was there before.

This is 100 feet from Eglinton. An entirely reasonable location for densified housing.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@ConnorMEwing LinkedIn.

[Jane McNally @JaneMcNally_]

Here is the full pregame ceremony honoring the late great Ken Dryden ‘69.

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

@HUGGY4386 Thanks for asking!

[Foreign Affairs @ForeignAffairs]

Read @BeaMagistro, @SBorwein, @rmichaelalvarez, @bartbonikowski, and @PeejLoewen on how policymakers can manage AI layoffs in a way that helps “restore faith in government”:
https://t.co/4RuQWH31oN

[Peter Loewen @PeejLoewen]

Shame Bill Buckner couldn't see this.