HGSE Remembers Robert Peterkin

Harvard Graduate School of Education is mourning the loss of Robert Peterkin, former professor of practice and director of the Urban Superintendents Program (USP). A loving educator and dedicated leader, Peterkin’s commitment to the rights of children and diversity of educational leadership changed the lives of countless students in communities across the country.

Born and raised in New York City, Peterkin started his career in Albany, New York, after graduating from University at Albany. It was there he also met the love of his life, Louise Bauer. The two were married for 56 years until she passed away earlier in 2024.

Beginning his 50-year educational career in Albany teaching children with developmental disabilities, he later founded an alternative school for students who had dropped out of high school. As his career progressed, Peterkin pushed for systemic change that reflected his philosophy that equity and excellence should be provided to every student in every classroom.

“Robert Peterkin was a distinguished scholar and a visionary leader with style, wit, charisma, and courage,” said Professor Deborah Jewell-Sherman. “He believed unequivocally that a stellar education was the birthright of every child, and he was insistent that this be afforded those children who historically have been marginalized and disenfranchised.”

Peterkin, who earned his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1981, soon built his career in the Massachusetts. The first Black headmaster of a Boston public school, he ushered The English High School through bussing, later establishing it as an integrated Magnet School for the Arts. Under his leadership as deputy school superintendent, Boston Public Schools saw a number of other firsts: its first culinary arts program, the first bilingual program for high school students, and the first daycare program so students with children of their own did not have to drop out. Peterkin helped establish an alternative school for students struggling in larger school settings, Boston’s first Open Campus program, allowing students to leave campus for educational opportunities at local colleges.

Peterkin later served as superintendent of public schools in Cambridge. In 1988, Peterkin became the first Black superintendent in the Milwaukee Public School District to be hired after a full-scale job search. Peterkin made an immediate impact in Wisconsin, described as “truly an enlightened people’ person who made things matter” by Janie Hatton, who worked with him in Milwaukee. “He was willing to take risks; he was not afraid to challenge the status quo at all,” former Milwaukee school board member Joyce Mallory told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

His career would soon bring him back to Cambridge, as he joined the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1991 to run the USP. Peterkin served as senior lecturer until 1996 when he was named the Frances Keppel Senior Lecturer on Educational Policy and Administration. He was promoted to professor of practice in 2005, serving in that role until transitioning to emeritus status in 2010. Throughout his academic career, he wrote and lectured on equitable school choice, school governance and desegregation, the achievement gap, and the impact of school reform on the achievement of African American children.

“Bob leaves behind a tremendous legacy of impact and a vast network of friends and colleagues all over the country, many of whom have strong ties to our HGSE community and campus,” said HGSE Interim Dean Nonie Lesaux. “The Urban Superintendents Program under Bob’s leadership lent strength and visibility to a movement to increase representation of women and people of color in the superintendency and other district leadership roles. He inspired and mentored a generation of rising leaders and helped HGSE deepen its commitment to the work of the nation’s urban public schools.”

Colleagues, students, and friends recalled his warmth, his sense of humor, and his smile as often as they cited the seismic impact he had on the educational landscape.

“Peterkin was a towering intellect who made a profound positive difference in the lives of children and adults wherever he went,” wrote Elaine Koury in The Bay State Banner. “Peterkin was a man of enormous personal presence and became mentor, father figure, guide, sage and friend to many, all of whom have a story about how he transformed their lives.”

So many of those stories were written at the Ed School, where he shepherded 20 cohorts through the Urban Superintendents Program, which began at HGSE in 1990 and ended when the Ed School transitioned the work to its doctor of education leadership degree (Ed.L.D.). When Peterkin was recruited to take over the USP, about 5% of the nation’s superintendents were female and just 1% were people of color. Within 15 years, the percentage of female superintendents grew to 21, and the percentage of people of color was 6.

“My old joke was, 'There's nothing wrong with the old boys' network. We just weren't in it,’” Peterkin told Ed. magazine in 2010. The next two decades of his work with USP centered on, echoing his own words, making good teaching happen for every child, every day, in every classroom. Many of those students went on to be superintendents, deputy superintendents, and hold other high positions across the educational landscape. And a number later became part of the HGSE faculty themselves.

Jewell-Sherman, a USP alum whom Peterkin chose as co-director of the program’s final two cohorts, recalled moments of humor and hard work as well as a shared philosophy of leadership that drove the program’s cohorts to work in Peterkin’s image.

“He believed that the leadership of America’s public schools should mirror the children in them; so he pushed new leaders — with a strong focus on people of color and women — to embrace HGSE’s rigorous coursework, complemented by exceptional practice and learning opportunities with premiere superintendents and other national educational and philanthropic leaders. Bob taught and mentored with a tough love stance, always demanding that we demonstrated and presented our best because it would be demanded of us in the work we would lead.”

Many students have shared stories of Peterkin’s warmth and impact on their careers in the wake of his passing.

“Bob wasn’t exactly a father figure, but more of a cool, impeccably dressed uncle who made sure we didn’t embarrass the family,” said USP alum Antonio Cediel. “His warmth and humor helped me make sense of the transition from running a school in Oakland and teaching inmates at San Quentin to eating lobster in one of the wealthiest institutions in the world. Many will share what a great mentor, teacher, role model, and friend Bob was. He was all of those things and more. But one of my favorite things about Bob was his warm and biting humor.”

A lover of jazz and the New York Yankees, Peterkin once told Ed. magazine he had more than 5,000 jazz records along with a huge CD collection. Students and colleagues often bonded with Peterkin over music. Senior Lecturer Jennifer Cheatham, faculty co-chair of the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship (ELOE) Program, was mentored by Peterkin ahead of her six-year stint as superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin.

Asked about her favorite memory of Peterkin, she noted encouraging emails and conversations and his uncanny availability in moments of crisis. But what stood out most to her was the smile on his face when he met Thelonious, Cheatham’s son named after jazz legend Thelonious Monk.

“Bob had the best smile,” said Cheatham. “But the way he smiled then, well, that was the best one ever.”

Cheatham noted Peterkin’s support for USP graduates did not end once they left the program. He was known to help new or transitioning superintendents, herself included, assemble a transition team that aligned with their goals and the role’s challenges along with numerous written reports to help them acclimate to the position.

“Like so many superintendents who graduated from USP, Bob actively supported my transition into the role. He helped me assemble an incredible transition team and wrangled them into completing a detailed report based on a set of learning priorities I established,” she said. “He did this pro bono for countless superintendents over the years. It was important to him that we started strong as the stakes were so high.”

Described as a “warm demander” who was also “funny as hell, kind, and generous,” and “uncompromising in his values,” Peterkin's lasting legacy will continue in the leadership he inspired with his own actions and words.

“For the education leaders who got a chance to learn and work with him, I will say, he saw something in us — a potential for leadership — that we ourselves couldn’t always see,” said Cheatham. “He invested in us and held us to the highest possible standard, knowing that our jobs were to fight for the kids in our schools who had the least. He stood by us in moments of success and triumph, but he was also there when we failed and floundered. He then picked us back up and dusted us off and told us to get back to work.”

That work continues in his absence, as does his presence at HGSE and halls of learning around the world through those he impacted personally.

“Bob changed the leadership trajectory of each of our lives,” said Jewell-Sherman. “In Bob’s name, we each have endeavored to lead with distinction. And in his memory, we will continue to light and bear a torch of learning for excellence and equity. Though we grieve at this monumental loss, we know deep in our hearts that Bob’s impact will go on through the students and families he touched directly and through us.”