Peter Kinsley, PhD, a senior research and policy analyst at the Graduate School for eight years, passed away peacefully at home with his family on February 12, 2026.
Peter’s contributions to UW–Madison were numerous and far-reaching, spanning from the data visualizations he produced to the many data analyses, special projects, and data briefs he published. Peter was responsible for creating the current version of the Doctoral Exit Survey, Doctoral Student Experience Survey, and Master’s Exit Survey, which are valuable resources for our campus in understanding our students’ experiences in their graduate programs. Peter also had a considerable national higher education influence where he was a leader and campus representative for the national Coalition for Next Generation Life Science, a large-scale data collection and standardization project on which UW–Madison is a founding member. Additionally, Peter played a significant role in the UW–Madison portion of the Council of Graduate Schools Career Pathways Project and worked extensively with Academic Analytics to refine the career outcomes data acquisition and reporting.
Peter wholeheartedly approached his work with our students at the center, and he influenced others to ask questions and tell stories that would support student success. As a 2014 graduate of our Educational Policy Studies PhD program, Peter integrated his own graduate student experience and passion for supporting our students as a daily driver of his work. He pondered how to better communicate graduate student debt and the funding landscape, understand student experiences toward increasing inclusiveness and belonging, and appreciate the complexities of job placement and outcomes of our recent graduates. He was proud of engaging with committees, academic units, governance bodies, and individual partners across the campus.
As a teammate, Peter was contemplative, engaging, and committed to precision. He cared deeply that all voices were heard and Peter thrived in thoughtful, vibrant dialogue. The Graduate School Office of Academic Analysis, Planning, and Assessment is an institutional and national leader in data sharing and analysis in large part due to Peter’s leadership and commitment to data integrity. He will be remembered as a pioneer, responsible for creating our current data infrastructure in the Graduate School.
A memorial service for Peter will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, April 18 at First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, Madison. Information on a gathering after the memorial is forthcoming.