F. Wendell Miller professor of Communication Studies, University of Iowa

John Durham Peters is a media historian and social theorist. He is probably best known for his first book, Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication, which traces out broad historical, philosophical, religious, cultural, legal, and technological contexts for the study of communication. He has held fellowships with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Leverhulme Trust.

Peters pursued studies at Brigham Young University and graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of Utah, where he also earned his M.A. in Speech Communication. He received in Ph.D. in Communication Theory and Research from Stanford University in 1986 before accepting a faculty appointment at University of Iowa.