Peter Struck, the Stephen A. Levin Family Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and a professor of classical studies in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been named the Vartan Gregorian Professor of Humanities. A leading scholar of Greek and Roman history of ideas, philosophy, and myth, Dr. Struck has published many works, including Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts, and Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Antiquity. Both works received the prestigious Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit from the Society for Classical Studies. He and Sophia Rosenfeld, the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, co-edited A Cultural History of Ideas: Volumes 1–6, which received the 2023 Prose Award for Best Humanities Reference Work from the American Association of Publishers. 

Dr. Struck has a long history of dedication to service in key departmental and University roles, which include as director of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars, chair of the department of classical studies, chair of the School of Arts & Sciences Curriculum Committee, chair of the School of Arts & Sciences Continuing Education Committee, and a member of both the Provost’s Fellowship Review Committee and the Faculty Senate. He was founder and co-director of the National Forum of Liberal Education, and founder and director of Penn’s Integrated Studies Program.

The chair was established in 2004 by the Annenberg Foundation in honor of Vartan Gregorian, a former provost, dean, and faculty member at Penn. The late Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg and Honorable Leonore Annenberg were both emeritus University Trustees. The Annenbergs endowed many chairs in Penn Arts & Sciences and made several generous contributions to the University. They also founded the Annenberg School for Communication at Penn in 1958.