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Peter Schmidt is a social entrepreneur, consultant, and writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. His book Color and Money, a class-focused analysis of the debate over race-conscious college admissions, received acclaim in scholarly journals. He spent 30 years as a reporter covering education, most recently at The Chronicle of Higher Education  and, before that, at Education Week. Over the course of his journalistic career his beats included academic labor, issues related to academic freedom, education research, state and federal higher-education policy, urban schools, school desegregation, and immigrant and refugee education. He has won national awards for his writings on college access, education research, affirmative action, minority issues, and the judicial system's treatment of minors.

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Peter's inspiration to establish Profs and Pints stems from his awareness that many Americans cannot afford access to higher learning even as many college faculty members struggle to get by on what they are paid. He has structured Profs and Pints around two chief goals: To provide the general public access to rich off-campus learning experiences and to provide college instructors with fair compensation for their hard work and scholarly expertise. His hope is that his company's focus on the greater good will help it get instructors, venues, and audiences on board.

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When Peter is not working to stage Profs and Pints events he continues to write freelance as a journalist and education policy expert. He is a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, and he is working to establish a nonprofit advocacy group devoted to promoting transparency, integrity, and fairness in college admissions. A native of the Detroit area, he lives in Washington D.C.

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Peter is always on the lookout for Profs and Pints presenters and venues, and he welcomes feedback from the audiences of Profs and Pints  events. You can reach him by emailing profsandpints@hotmail.com