Professor Peter McPhee
Professorial Fellow
- Postal
Address: - Room 1.17
Centre for the Study of Higher Education
715 Swanston Street
Carlton Vic 3053 - Telephone:
- (+61 3) 9035 5958
- Email:
- p.mcphee@unimelb.edu.au
- Fax:
- (+61 3) 8344 7576
Biography
Professor McPhee was educated at Colac High School, Caulfield Grammar School, and the University of Melbourne, where he completed a BA (Hons 1st Class), Dip.Ed., MA (Hons 1st Class) and PhD. He taught at La Trobe University 1975-79 and the Victoria University of Wellington 1980-86 before returning to the University of Melbourne, where he has held a Personal Chair in History since 1993.
He has published widely on the history of modern France, notably Revolution and Environment in Southern France, 1780-1830 (Oxford, 1999), A Social History of France 1789-1914 (London & New York, 2004) and The French Revolution 1789-1799 (Oxford, 2002). In 1999 he also published a biography of the former Chancellor Roy Douglas ('Pansy') Wright. His most recent book is Living the French Revolution 1789-1799 (London & New York, 2006).
Professor McPhee was Deputy Dean and Acting Dean of the School of Graduate Studies in 1994-96, then Head of the Department of History in 1996-99. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1997. In the same year he became an inaugural 'Universitas 21' Teaching Fellow. In 2003 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He was an Officer of the Academic Board 1999-2003 and its President in 2002-03. He was awarded a Centenary Medal for services to education in 2003. He took up the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) in October 2003 and was appointed Provost in September 2007.
Professor McPhee retired in September 2009. He is a Professorial Fellow of the University and continues to teach and supervise in the School of Historical and Philosophcial Studies.
Research
An historian of revolutionary France, Professor Peter McPhee's research interests focus particularly on change and continuity in rural society. Professor McPhee is also interested in more general questions about historical theory and methodology. He has published widely on France since 1780, including A Social History of France 1789-1914 (London, 2003) and The French Revolution 1789-1799 (Oxford, 2002), and wrote a biography of a former Chancellor, 'Pansy': a Biography of Roy Douglas Wright (Melbourne,1999).
Professor McPhee has published widely on the history of modern France, notably Revolution and Environment in Southern France, 1780-1830 (Oxford, 1999), A Social History of France 1789-1914 (London & New York, 2004) and The French Revolution 1789-1799 (Oxford, 2002). In 1999 he published a biography of the former Chancellor Roy Douglas ('Pansy') Wright. His most recent book is Living the French Revolution 1789-1799 (London & New York, 2006).
Professor McPhee's current research projects are a biography of Maximilien Robespierre for Yale University Press, and an ARC-funded project on the role of historical narratives in contemporary Basque and Catalan nationalism. He is also editing a major collection of articles on the French Revolution for Wiley-Blackwell.