Peter H. Hansen is Professor of History and Director of International and Global Studies at WPI. International and Global Studies brings together faculty from arts and sciences, business, engineering, and the global school to enrich students' global learning on campus and around the world. He enjoys teaching courses in history or international and global studies, seminars on sports or global studies, and working with students in WPI's project programs. He is director of the Copenhagen Project Center and has advised student projects in Bangkok, Copenhagen, London, Lyon, Morocco, Namibia, Venice, Washington DC, and Worcester. Hansen was a Fulbright Scholar in France for the Fulbright International Education Administrators Program.

Hansen's research investigates the intertwined histories of mountaineering and modernity. The Summits of Modern Man: Mountaineering after the Enlightenment (Harvard University Press, 2013) examined the transformation of the summit position into a symbol of individual sovereignty and enlightenment since the eighteenth century. Debates over “who was first” on Mont Blanc, Mt Everest, Mont Ventoux, and other peaks articulated changing definitions of modernity. Hansen has also published on colonialism, cross-cultural encounters, documentary films, mountains, and WPI's project program. 

He has written about Mount Everest for many years and is co-editor of Other Everests: One Mountain, Many Worlds (Manchester University Press, November 2024). Other Everests brings together interdisciplinary and international perspectives on the many worlds of this mountain, including Buddhist monks, Sherpas, women and gender, gear and material culture, films and social media, as well as multiple stories and theatrical performances. Currently, Hansen is writing a book on the whiteness of Mount Everest. 

Hansen has been a visiting fellow at the Durham, Harvard, Cambridge, and the Australian National University. He is President of the Worcester World Affairs Council and a former president of the Northeast Conference on British Studies. At WPI, Hansen has led multi-year efforts to revise the general education requirements in the humanities and arts, broaden the criteria for promotion in academic rank, and institutionalize a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion across the university. His research has reached wider audiences as a lecturer at public libraries and museums and as a commentator for television programs on the BBC, History Channel, and Discovery Channel. He recently appeared on BBC World Service The Forum on The only way is up: A history of mountaineering. 

Visit Digital WPI to view student projects advised by Professor Hansen.