Eduardo M. Peñalver serves as the 49th president of Georgetown University. A Rhodes Scholar, professor of law, and leader in higher education, he previously served as the president of Seattle University (2021-2026) and as the dean of Cornell University’s Law School (2014-2021), where he facilitated the growth of academic programs and investments in financial aid, and helped both institutions navigate complex issues in higher education. After graduating from Yale Law School, he clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
He has held faculty appointments at Cornell Law School, Fordham Law School, the University of Chicago Law School along with visiting appointments at Harvard Law and Yale Law.
He is considered a leading voice in the “progressive property” movement, deriving many of his insights from Catholic social teaching. His research explores how property law creates or reinforces communal bonds and how property rights mediate the relationship between individuals and communities. His book, Property Outlaws (co-authored with Sonia Katyal), published by Yale University Press in February 2010, explores the vital role of disobedience within the evolution of property law. His book, An Introduction to Property Theory (co-authored with Gregory Alexander), was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011. Additionally, his scholarship has been published in scholarly law journals at Yale University, the University of Michigan, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania.
He received his bachelor’s from Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, his Master of Arts in Philosophy and Theology at Oriel College, Oxford, and his juris doctor from Yale Law School.
Peñalver was raised in Puyallup, Washington, and is married to Sital Kalantry, a tenured professor, associate dean, and founder of the India Center at Seattle University School of Law. The two met as undergraduates at Cornell and have two sons.