
Professor Peterson joined the faculty at the university in 1999 and has been department chair since 2012. Her research includes research on how cultural products (things like quilts, African masks, and blown glass) have come to be treated as fine art.
Dr. Peterson is a graduate of what is now Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia. After studying the sociology of art in France, she returned to the United States to earn a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Virginia.


