New College Leader: Peter A. Eden, president of Franklin Pierce University
Aug 27, 2024
Courtesy of Business NH Magazine
Author: Kathie Ragsdale
A reputation for enhancing academic offerings, building revenue streams and endowments, and fostering diversity precede Peter A. Eden as he assumes the role of president of Franklin Pierce University in Rindge.
Formerly president of Landmark College in Putney, Vermont, for 13 years, Eden also served as dean of arts and sciences at Endicott College in Massachusetts and was a tenured associate professor and chair of the science department at Marywood University in Pennsylvania.
Eden earned his undergraduate degree at UMass Amherst, his Ph.D. at the University of NH, and did post-doctoral training at MIT.
“One very important priority is to intentionally build relationships with students and their families, alumni, staff, faculty, supporters, and the broader community of Franklin Pierce,” he says. That will allow both challenges and opportunities to be addressed “in a focused, collective manner.”
A key challenge, he says, is addressing the declining enrollments many colleges face because of the demographic decline in college-age students. At Franklin Pierce, he hopes to emphasize marketing and recruitment tactics to reach a broader audience by “more creatively and expansively advertising our particular offerings.”
While at Landmark, Eden helped facilitate new degree programs and a graduate-level online certificate program, and was instrumental in starting LC Online, a blended online program for students with learning differences. Fundraising efforts under his leadership resulted in the construction of a new science, technology and innovation center and a new sports field. He is also credited with the creation of Landmark’s Centers for Diversity and Inclusion.
Eden says Franklin Pierce’s “solid foundation” includes a safe, inclusive campus with online, in-person and hybrid courses. “Moving forward,” he adds, “we must invest more in these programmatic platforms and strengths, capitalize on our status as a Division II athletics powerhouse and convey, through marketing to prospective students in and beyond New England, the overall excitement and value that Franklin Pierce offers.”
