ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Peter Judge, a professor emeritus of religious studies, will return to Winthrop University as interim provost.
He will begin his appointment on July 1 when current Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Adrienne McCormick departs for a new job as provost at the University of Redlands in California. He will remain in the position for a year or until a permanent successor is named.
Judge said he is honored to have been asked by Interim President George Hynd and the Board of Trustees to return to Winthrop to serve in this interim position. “I’m grateful for their trust. I look forward to playing a role in helping President Serna settle in to leading his alma mater with confidence,” Judge said. “I’m also thrilled to be working once again with so many of Winthrop’s bright, creative, and dedicated staff, faculty, and administrators.”
Hynd said Judge is a perfect fit for the interim provost role because he knows so much about the institutional side of Winthrop’s academic workings. “President Serna will have someone who is familiar with the campus and the faculty and staff by his side with Peter Judge’s appointment,” Hynd said. “Peter’s wealth of knowledge about Winthrop will be very helpful in this upcoming academic year.”
Judge joined the Winthrop faculty in 1999 and has served as chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, 2006-21, interim chair of the Department of Mass Communication, 2015-16, and as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, 2011-13. He has taught biblical courses in the religious studies curriculum as well as courses having to do with early Christian thought and literature. Having lived and studied in Europe for many years, he was a proponent of students studying or traveling abroad. He also taught occasional religious studies courses that involved travel abroad opportunities, such as to France and Israel.
His research focused on the study of the New Testament Gospels. His works in progress include a book on “What the Bible Says About Suffering.” Judge has extensive service and committee work at Winthrop, given numerous scholarly presentations on biblical and religious themes, and written book reviews.
A native of the Buffalo, New York, area, Judge earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy/theology at St. John Vianney Seminary in New York; a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in theology/religious studies from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or at longshawj@winthrop.edu.
