Alumni/ae Spotlight
Peter C. Olden (PhD ’94)
Associate Professor & Director,
Graduate Health Administration Program, University of Scranton
By Matt Evans (MHA '06)
Peter C. Olden, Ph.D. was born and raised in the Princeton-Trenton NJ area. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business from Miami (OH) University in 1972 and a Master in Health Administration from Duke University in 1975. From 1975 to 1990, he held executive positions at a community hospital, a teaching hospital, and a regional medical center, all in the Southeast.
Initiating a career change in 1990, he began work on a Ph.D. in Health Services Organization and Research at Virginia Commonwealth University, which he completed in 1994. Since 1993, Dr. Olden has been teaching at the University of Scranton (PA), where he is now Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate Health Administration Program. He has taught courses on health care organization, management, strategic planning, policy, marketing, human resources, and the U.S. health care system. He has also served as faculty for health care administration education in the republics of Slovakia and Georgia, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the American International Health Alliance.
Dr. Olden writes and speaks about health care organizations, health care management, preventive health, the U.S. health care system, and health administration education. Besides co-authoring a book chapter for a health care management textbook, he has published in scholarly and professional journals. These include Milbank Quarterly, Health Services Research,Journal of Healthcare Management, Health Care Management Review, Journal of Health Administration Education, Medical Group Management Journal, and Health Management Technology. He recently edited a special symposium issue of the Journal of Health and Human Service Administration, which addressed community health stakeholders. As lead author, he won second place in the national 1999 Sodexho Marriott Health Care Services Faculty Publication of the Year Award of the American Academy of Medical Administrators.
Dr. Olden has given presentations and served on panels at national academic conferences and professional association meetings including those of the Academy of Management, American Public Health Association, AcademyHealth, and Association of University Programs in Health Administration. He has also led management development workshops and strategic planning sessions for various health care organizations. His service includes reviewing manuscripts for the Academy of Management Annual Meeting and for the journals Health Care Management Review, Health Care Management Science, and Journal of Healthcare Management.
Professional affiliations of Dr. Olden include membership and service in the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Academy of Management, American Public Health Association, AcademyHealth, American College of Healthcare Executives, and some regional and local groups. His community service with the American Cancer Society, the Healthy Northeast Pennsylvania Initiative, and the Lackawanna County Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse helps people live healthier lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
