U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan will become director of the USC Center for the Political Future in January, according to a press release from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Peters will also serve as the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Endowed Chair in Practical Politics, according to Dornsife. Both positions are currently held by founding director Robert Shrum, who is retiring at the end of the year, according to Dornsife. Peters will work alongside Republican strategist and current co-director Mike Murphy.
CPF aims to foster civil dialogue across the political spectrum and is believed to be the only university political center in the country that is led by both a Democrat and a Republican, according to Dornsife.
“I see this as a capstone to my years in public service and an opportunity to help prepare the next generation to take the reins,” Peters said in a statement. “CPF has done a terrific job bringing people with different perspectives together. I’m excited to build on Bob Shrum’s accomplishments and work with Mike Murphy to encourage more young people to get involved in our democracy and show that people who disagree can still find common ground and get things done.”
According to Dornsife, Peters plans to expand CPF’s activities at USC’s Capital Campus in Washington to directly connect students with legislators and government institutions. He will teach at both the Washington and Los Angeles campuses, according to Dornsife.
“Gary Peters brings an extraordinary combination of public service, bipartisan leadership and real experience getting things done in Washington,” Dornsife Dean James Bullock said in a statement. “He has spent his career showing that you can hold strong political convictions and still work productively with people who see the world differently. I’m especially excited about what his leadership will make possible for our students, both in Los Angeles and in Washington.”
Peters is serving his second Senate term, which will conclude in January. He previously served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. From 2021 to 2023, he authored the most bipartisan stand-alone bills signed into law by any senator in a single Congress in more than four decades, according to Dornsife.
He was also ranked the most effective U.S. senator in each of the last three Congresses by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, first earning the ranking while his party was in the minority, something no senator had accomplished in more than 50 years, according to Dornsife.
Peters also has a background in higher education, having taught at Oakland University and Wayne State University and held an endowed chair at Central Michigan University before his congressional career, according to Dornsife.
“Gary Peters is that rare thing: a principled politician who also knows how to get things done,” Murphy said in a statement. “I very much look forward to working with him as we grow the center’s mission to teach and inspire USC students to embrace the idea that civility and reasoned compromise are far from the enemy of politics; they’re essential to turning political disagreement into practical results.”
Edited by Zayane El Solh