Michael Soto, Ph.D.

Michael Soto, Ph.D.

Vice President of Academic Affairs

Michael Soto PhD serves as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Saint Peter’s University. As the University’s chief academic officer, Dr. Soto provides strategic leadership and executive oversight of all academic functions of the University, including academic planning, program development, quality assurance, faculty affairs and academic success. In advancing academic excellence, he ensures that teaching, scholarship and academic policies at Saint Peter’s are deeply rooted in and reflective of our Jesuit mission and values, fostering intellectual rigor, cura personalis and a commitment to justice, service and the formation of the whole person.

Prior to joining the Saint Peter’s community, Dr. Soto served as Provost and Senior Vice President at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. He also served as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English at Trinity University in San Antonio.

With degrees from Stanford University (B.A.) and Harvard University (M.A. and Ph.D.), Dr. Soto is trained as a cultural and social historian, with a focus on the twentieth-century United States. His six books include Measuring the Harlem Renaissance: The U.S. Census, African American Identity, and Literary Form and Wiley’s A Companion to American Literature.

He enjoys cooking (when he can) and traveling with his wife Celina Peña and their daughter and son.