About Eduardo Moises
Eduardo Moises Penalver has built a career that moves between classrooms and university administration. His academic formation began at Cornell University, where he earned an A.B. in history in 1994. He then spent time at the University of Oxford, completing a master’s degree in 1996 in philosophy and theology. He finished his formal legal training at Yale Law School, earning his J.D. in 1999.
He entered academia soon after a period of early professional work and has held a series of teaching and leadership posts. In 2006 he joined the faculty of Cornell Law School. In 2013 he is listed as having held the title of John P. Wilson Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. His academic résumé also records a transition into university leadership: he was named president-elect of Seattle University in 2021.
Penalver’s interdisciplinary education—history at Cornell, philosophy and theology at Oxford, and law at Yale—shapes his approach to scholarship and teaching. His background allows him to bring historical perspective and philosophical questions into conversations about law and institutions. Colleagues and students have encountered work that bridges disciplinary boundaries and asks how legal rules fit within broader social and moral frameworks.
Within the academy he has moved from faculty roles into administrative responsibilities. The 2021 designation as president-elect signaled a shift from law school administration toward broader university leadership. That transition reflects an interest in governance, curriculum, and the institutional side of higher education as much as traditional scholarly pursuits.
He is admitted to practice in New York and has maintained ties to legal education throughout his career. His teaching and administrative roles have alternated, producing a career that blends classroom instruction, scholarly writing, and institutional management. That mix informs how he approaches both law and leadership.
As of 2026 he continues his work at Seattle University, where he concentrates on higher education leadership and the intersection of legal scholarship and university governance.
