Assistant Dean for Personnel
As assistant dean for personnel for the College of Arts and Sciences, Peter Denis is a key problem solver in all manner of personnel, faculty, contractual, and policy issues that are part of the life of the College. His substantial legal training and long experience as a lawyer informs his work. He sits on all of the collective bargaining committees as the primary College liaison with Labor Relations and is engaged in all grievance issues regarding staff and faculty.
Prior to his current role, Denis was the UW’s assistant vice president for labor relations, a position he held for almost ten years. In both of these roles, Denis has been tasked with representing the interests of the institution and ensuring that best human resource management practices and unstinting integrity be applied to the dealings with the people who work for or who are associated with the University of Washington.
Denis has acted as the chief spokesperson for the UW and the College in matters relating to collective bargaining, dispute resolution, and contract interpretation. He values the mission of the UW and the College and seeks to ensure that the actions undertaken in the day-to-day management of our people reflect and further those missions.
Prior to joining the UW in 2008, Denis was vice president of human resources for Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton. His first job in the US was with Group Health Cooperative (now Kaiser Permanente), where he was the labor relations administrator charged with negotiating collective bargaining agreements and directing all labor relation matters for that venerable cooperative. A native of Montreal, Denis is a graduate of the University of Montreal Law School and is a member of the Bar of Quebec. He furthered his legal education at the University of Ottawa and in 2012 received an LL.M (summa cum laude) on the strength of his thesis proposing an e-commerce legal infrastructure for Viet Nam. He lives on Bainbridge Island and is an active member of the local theater community, having been a founder of one long-running theater group and the president of another.