UC Irvine names new vice provost for graduate education and dean of Graduate Division

“Irvine, Calif., May 28, 2026 — The University of California, Irvine has named Peter Biehl vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate Division. Biehl will join UC Irvine from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he currently serves as vice provost and dean of graduate studies. “I am excited to join the UC Irvine community, and I’m looking forward to working with the accomplished students, postdocs, faculty and staff. UC Irvine graduate education has a strong foundation, and I am thrilled to contribute to further innovation in research, creativity and discovery and to further our public impact in the community, nation and world,” Biehl said. The vice provost and graduate dean is the university’s senior academic official overseeing both graduate education and postdoctoral scholar professional development. UC Irvine offers more than 120 graduate degree programs, many of which rank among the best in the country in their respective fields. The division serves over 7,500 graduate students and confers 1,300-plus master’s and doctoral degrees each year. “We are pleased to welcome Peter Biehl to UC Irvine. His record of academic leadership and commitment to graduate student success will be assets as he leads the Graduate Division into its next chapter,” said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Hal Stern. Prior to UC Santa Cruz, where he was also a professor of anthropology, Biehl was at New York’s University at Buffalo from 2008 to 2021. He held a range of academic and administrative roles there, including associate dean for international graduate education and enrollment for the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as chair, institute director and professor in the Department of Anthropology. An accomplished educator who has taught at universities in Paris; Cambridge, England; Freiburg, Germany; and Halle, Germany, Biehl is a fellow of the American Council on Education, the Society of Antiquaries of London and the German Archaeological Institute. His work has been recognized with several awards and honors, including the University at Buffalo’s Distinguished Postdoc Mentor Award and the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Internationalization. Biehl is an internationally recognized archaeologist who researches climate change’s impact on historical sites. He is the author or editor of 11 books and more than 120 articles or book chapters and has produced exhibitions and performances. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the European Union, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the German Academic Exchange Service (known as DAAD), among others. About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report . The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu . Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus studio with a Comrex IP audio codec to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu . Additional resources for journalists may be found at https://news.uci.edu/media-resources .

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