Dr. Peter Kvidera is Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of English at John Carroll University. He served as the College's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2009-2013 and Director of JCU's Integrative Core Curriculum from 2013-2017. He earned his B.A. from Loras College, his M.A. from Marquette University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Before joining the faculty at John Carroll, he taught as a Mellon Fellow at Duke University’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Writing.
Dr. Kvidera’s teaching focus is 19th-and 20th-century American literature, as well as Japanese literature in translation. His research fields include U.S. immigrant and ethnic literatures, and he has published articles in New England Quarterly, American Literature, American Quarterly, American Literary Scholarship, and MELUS. Prior to achieving his master’s degree, Dr. Kvidera spent two years teaching English in Japan.
Beyond his academic life, Dr. Kvidera is a trained singer and performs with the Cleveland Orchestra as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. He has traveled with the Cleveland Orchestra on European and domestic tours.
A native of Iowa, Dr. Kvidera is now happy at home in Northeast Ohio. He, his wife Melanie Shakarian, and their daughters Rose, Aida and Eliza, live in the City of Cleveland’s Edgewater neighborhood.