Courtesy | Front Porch Books
“I want to teach at a liberal arts college before I die,” Peters said. “I have always wanted to teach in a great books program.”
Peters began teaching at the college in the fall 2021 semester after being hired in the spring..
Peters became a professor in 1994 and was a professor of English at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, from 1996 until 2021. He is also editor-in-chief of both Front Porch Books and a professional journal, Local Culture.
This semester, he is teaching two sections of ENG 105 and ENG 360: American Literature: 1820-1914.
Peters, a Michigan native, said he has known about Hillsdale since the late 1970s, but didn’t think much about it until his daughter Emma started looking at colleges.
“I actually insisted that she look seriously at Hillsdale,” Peters said.
He thought about making a career change for the last five or so years, he said, but he did not want to take a job at another school unless it had a great books program, and a focused curriculum agreed on by the whole faculty.
When he heard about the opportunity to teach at Hillsdale, he said he did not think much would come of it.
“Lo and behold, something came of it,” Peters said.
Peters said it was a hard decision to leave Augustana.
“It’s not necessarily an easy thing. You leave behind students and friends,” he said. “But I decided to do it, and I am very glad I did.”
Emma Peters ’20, who is the executive assistant to the vice president of business development and admissions and junior project manager at Hillsdale College, said that one reason she thinks her dad’s teaching style fits in better at Hillsdale than Augustana is that it has the characteristics of a true liberal arts college.
“I don’t think Augustana has a good understanding of what liberal arts means,” Emma said. “I don’t think they know how to go about giving their students a good liberal arts education.”
Another advantage to teaching at Hillsdale is that it is closer to his home here in Michigan, he said.
After living near Augustana in Rock Island for 15 years, the Peters family decided to move back to Michigan.
“My parents found a property with 12 acres in the same town in Michigan that both my mom and my dad’s parents live in,” Emma said. “My grandparents were getting older and sick, and my parents wanted to be closer to them so they could take care of them.”
The family moved back to Michigan in 2012, and Peters has been commuting back and forth to Augustana College weekly, a 12-hour round trip. He would leave on Monday and stay in Rock Island during the week, sleeping in an apartment. On Thursday, he would drive back home and spend the weekend with his family, Peters said.
“One of the biggest advantages of being at Hillsdale is that he will be able to go home to his family every single night for the first time in seven years,” Emma said.
Emma said she is excited to have her dad working with her at the college.
“I was very excited and hopeful,” Emma said. “I know what type of professor my dad is and that it would be an exciting opportunity for him.”
“It is going to be such a refreshing change for him to teach with people who are like-minded,” Emma said. “It will be so nice for him to teach at a school where he actually believes in the mission of the college and lives it wholeheartedly. I believe he has been adhering to the mission of Hillsdale College while at Augustana College.”
Assistant Professor of Religion Don Westblade knows Peters from sending two of his three children to Augustana College. Westblade said his daughter, who majored in English and graduated from Augustana in 2012, said that Peters was her favorite professor.
Westblade shared one story that particularly united his family with the Peters family. While his daughter was a student in one of Peters’ classes, she was involved in a severe bike accident and suffered a concussion, which caused her to miss homework deadlines, Westblade said. Nevertheless, Peters gave her grace during that emergency.
“He was enormously accommodating to her and postponed the work she had to do,” Westblade said. “He was hugely supportive.”
Westblade said he thinks Peters will fit better at Hillsdale than at Augustana due to the differing school cultures.
“He is just a better fit here,” Westblade said. “I think he will be a great fit with the faculty.”
Professor Emeritus Michael Jordan, former chair of the English department, said he is glad the English department will be adding an agrarian to the faculty which contributes to his knowledge of the agricultural life present in American literature. Jordan, who retired after teaching at Hillsdale last fall, taught American literature at Hillsdale for almost 30 years.
Jordan, who attended a lecture on Wendall Berry that Peters’ gave last spring, also said that he is an authority on Berry, as well as a friend.
Jordan said he thinks that Peters will fit in well with the department’s great books sequence due to his wide range of knowledge beyond just American literature.
“He’s a real generalist,” Jordan said. “He is a seasoned teacher of world literature.”
Associate Professor of History Darryl Hart, who knows Peters from his work at Front Porch Republic and from the Intercollegiate Study Institute, has contributed essays to some of Peter’s books.
“I think he will be much happier here and a better fit overall,” Hart said.
