Peter Rodriguez, the dean who helped turn Rice University’s business school into a fast-growing powerhouse, is packing his bags for North Carolina. Wake Forest University announced Wednesday that Rodriguez will serve as its 15th president, stepping into the role on July 1. He is scheduled to leave Rice on June 5, closing out a nearly decade-long run that saw him launch an undergraduate business school, expand academic offerings and help steer construction of a second business building.
Wake Forest’s Board of Trustees signed off on Rodriguez after a national search, citing his scholarship, campus leadership and fundraising chops, according to Wake Forest News. “The Presidential Search Committee unanimously agreed that Peter Rodriguez was the best choice to lead Wake Forest into its third century,” Board co-chair Jeanne Whitman Bobbitt said in the announcement, signaling trustees were all-in on their pick.
What He Built At Rice
At Rice, Rodriguez presided over a serious growth spurt. MBA enrollment roughly doubled, tenure-track faculty increased by more than 40%, and the university rolled out the Virani Undergraduate School of Business along with new online graduate programs. Rice’s leadership also credits him with overseeing major renovations and a new 112,000-square-foot business building, a brick-and-mortar statement that the school was leveling up.
That transformation did not go unnoticed. Poets&Quants named Rodriguez its 2025 Dean of the Year for the overhaul at Rice Business, according to Poets&Quants.
Winston-Salem Reaction
In Winston-Salem, the hire was the culmination of months of quiet searching. WFDD reported that the board selected Rodriguez after a months-long national search and that he will replace Susan Wente when her presidency wraps up at the end of June. Local coverage highlighted the same combination that impressed Rice back in the day: Rodriguez’s academic credentials paired with fundraising experience, which trustees reportedly saw as a key reason to move quickly, according to WFDD.
Back in Houston, the changeover at Rice Business is already in motion. The university will launch an international search for its next dean this summer and has tapped Jeff Fleming as interim dean while that process unfolds, according to Rice News. Rodriguez’s final day at Rice is June 5. Fleming, a longtime faculty member and finance professor, has been asked to keep the school steady through the transition.
Wake Forest, for its part, is spotlighting Rodriguez’s scholarship in international trade, economic history and public finance, and is pointing to his service with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Houston branch as a sign of his experience working across research and policy circles, per Wake Forest News. Trustees are framing his arrival as part of a broader push to elevate Wake Forest’s national profile while holding tight to its undergraduate focus.
Officials at both schools say the handoff will be brisk and pragmatic, not drawn out. The coming weeks will reveal whether Rodriguez brings the same playbook that reshaped Rice Business to Wake Forest’s liberal-arts and professional programs. For now, both universities insist the top priority is a clean transition and continuity for students, donors and faculty.
