Eduardo Peñalver

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Eduardo M. Peñalver
President-elect of Georgetown University
Assuming office
July 1, 2026
SucceedingJohn J. DeGioia
Robert Groves (interim)
22nd President of Seattle University
Incumbent
Assumed office
July 1, 2021
Preceded byStephen Sundborg
16th Dean of Cornell Law School
In office
July 1, 2014 – January 1, 2021
Preceded byStewart J. Schwab
Succeeded byJens David Ohlin
Personal details
EducationCornell University (BA)
Oriel College, Oxford (MA)
Yale University (JD)
ProfessionLaw professor, legal scholar, academic administrator

Eduardo Moises Peñalver is an American legal scholar, currently serving as the 22nd president of Seattle University since July 2021. He served as the 16th dean of Cornell Law School from 2014 to 2021. On October 15, 2025, he was announced as the incoming 49th president of Georgetown University.[1]

Early life and education

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Peñalver was raised in Puyallup, Washington.[2][3] His family is Catholic.[2] His mother is the child of Swiss immigrants and worked as a school nurse, and his father immigrated from Cuba and worked as a pediatrician.[1] Peñalver received his primary education at his parish school, All Saints,[3] and attended Henry Foss High School in Tacoma, Washington.[2] His parents and four siblings live in the Puyallup and Tacoma areas.[3]

Peñalver earned a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University and a Master of Arts from Oriel College, Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar and Hermano of Lambda Upsilon Lambda. He received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.[2][4]

Peñalver clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.[2][5]

Career

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From 2014 to 2021, Peñalver was the Allan R. Tessler Dean of Cornell Law School, succeeding Stewart J. Schwab.[6][7] He is an expert on property and land use law[8][9][10] as well as the intersection of law and religion.[11] He has authored, co-authored or edited five books on property including Property Outlaws,[12] examining the role of disobedience in the development of property law, and An Introduction to Property Theory.[13]

Peñalver began his academic career at the Fordham University School of Law in 2003. In 2006, Peñalver joined the faculty at Cornell Law School and was a visiting professor at both Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. He moved to the University of Chicago Law School in 2012, where he served as the John P. Wilson Professor of Law.[14]

Academic administration

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In 2014, Peñalver returned to Cornell University after he was named the 16th dean of Cornell Law School. He is the first person of Latin descent to become dean of an Ivy League law school.[2][4][15]

He became the 22nd president of Seattle University in 2021, becoming the first layperson to lead the Catholic institution.[1] As president, Peñalver oversaw the university's acquisition of the Cornish College of the Arts in 2024.[16]

On October 15, 2025, Georgetown University announced that Peñalver would become the university's 49th president, succeeding president John DeGioia and interim president Robert Groves, effective July 1, 2026. He would be the second layperson to lead the Catholic institution.[1]

Personal life

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Peñalver married Sital Kalantry, whom he met at Cornell, in 1997.[17][18] They have two sons.[1]

Publications

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Books

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  • Peñalver, Eduardo; Katyal, Sonia (2010). Property Outlaws: How Squatters, Pirates, and Protesters Improve the Law of Ownership. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300122954.
  • Peñalver, Eduardo; Alexander, Gregory, eds. (2010). Property and Community. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195391572.
  • Peñalver, Eduardo; Sterk, Stewart (2011). Land Use Regulation. Foundation Press. ISBN 978-1599418742.
  • Peñalver, Eduardo; Alexander, Gregory (2012). An Introduction to Property Theory. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521113656.
  • Singer, Joseph William; Berger, Bethany; Davidson, Nestor; Peñalver, Eduardo (2021). Property Law: Rules Policies & Practices (8th ed.). Aspen. ISBN 978-1543838534.

Scholarly publications

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  • Exactions Creep, 2013 S. Ct. Rev. 287 (2014) (with Lee Fennell)
  • The Right Not to Use in Patent and Property Law, 98 Cornell L. Rev. 1437 (2013) (with Oskar Liivak)
  • The Illusory Right to Abandon, 109 Mich. L. Rev. 191 (2010)
  • Regulatory Taxings, 105 Colum. L. Rev. 2182 (2004)

Opinion writing

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Eduardo Peñalver Named 49th President of Georgetown University". Georgetown University. 2025-10-15. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Craighead, Callie (2020-10-22). "Cornell Law Dean Eduardo M. Peñalver named 22nd president of Seattle University". Seattlepi.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Latino Trailblazer: Eduardo M. Peñalver". Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education. December 2020.
  4. ^ a b Bass, Carole (2014-03-20). "Eduardo Peñalver '99JD: Ithaca homecoming". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  5. ^ Estrich, Susan; Peñalver, Eduardo M.; Fisher, Jeffrey L.; Sloan, Cliff; Pearlstein, Deborah N.; Thai, Joseph (2010-04-09). "My Boss, Justice Stevens". New York Times.
  6. ^ "Eduardo M. Peñalver". Cornell Law School. Archived from the original on 2015-05-31. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  7. ^ Peñalver, Eduardo (2014-08-13) [2014-08-08]. "Speakeasy: Eduardo Peñalver, New Dean of Cornell Law School". Ithaca Times. Interviewed by Nocella, Michael. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  8. ^ Peñalver, Eduardo M. (2007-12-30). "The End of Sprawl?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  9. ^ Eduardo M. Peñalver; Sonia Katyal (2010-07-09). "Can Harry Reid post Sharron Angle's old Web site?". Slate.com. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  10. ^ "Art Law » Interview with Law Professor Eduardo M. Peñalver, on Art, Law and Property". Clancco. 2006-09-04. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  11. ^ "Satanists Troll Hobby Lobby". The Atlantic. 2014-07-30. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  12. ^ "Welcome | Yale University Press". Yalepress.yale.edu. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  13. ^ "Alexander and Peñalver Publish: An Introduction to Property Theory".
  14. ^ Marsha Nagorsky (2012-07-18). "Property Expert Eduardo Peñalver Joins Law School Faculty | University of Chicago Law School". Law.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  15. ^ "Eduardo Peñalver named dean of Cornell Law School | Cornell Chronicle". News.cornell.edu. 2014-03-18. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  16. ^ "Two Seattle colleges are merging". The Seattle Times. 2024-12-05. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  17. ^ "Sital Kalantry, Eduardo Penalver". The New York Times. 1997-07-06. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  18. ^ "About the President". Seattle University. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
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