Peter Hook (Ph.D. 2014) – now Assistant Professor

Congratulations to Dr. Peter A. Hook on his completion of the Ph.D. in Information Science (July 2014) at Indiana University, and on his new position as an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University (September 2014.)

ILS Professor Dr. Katy Börner was the chairperson of his dissertation Research Committee. His dissertation was titled: The Structure and Evolution of the Academic Discipline of Law in the United States: Generation and Validation of Course-Subject Co-Occurrence Maps.

In addition to his Ph.D. in Information Science from Indiana University, Dr. Hook holds a J.D. degree from the University of Kansas and a M.S. LIS from the University of Illinois. He practiced law for two years and has ten years of experience as an academic law librarian. He will continue research in data analytics, information visualization, and domain mapping as he begins his new career.

In a recent email interview, we asked Dr. Hook for comment’s on his new job, and tips for current students. He responded:

• I am very happy here in my new position and my new home in the greater Detroit metro area. Detroit has a lot going for it and the campus is surprisingly similar to other large university campuses that I have seen.
• As to advice for fellow PhD students, I offer the following: Start thinking from day one about the type of position you want and spend your time at ILS making yourself as marketable as possible for that type of position. Start reading job vacancy announcements from the get-go so you are familiar with want is desired. And, publish as often as possible.

We wish him the best in his new position.