Senior Research Associate, Center for Studies in Higher Education. Co-author (with Margaret Cheney) of A Brief History of the University of California (University of California Press, 2004) and editor of The Pursuit of Knowledge: Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson (University of California Press, 2007). Her most recent book is Entrepreneurial President: Richard Atkinson and the University of California, 1995-2003 (University of California Press, 2012), a study of the Atkinson presidency and the principal issues facing the University of California during this seminal period. She has also authored or co-authored papers on affirmative action, undergraduate admissions, industry-university relationships, and other higher-education topics.
Before joining the Center in 2002, Pelfrey served for more than thirty years as a member of the immediate staff of five University of California presidents: Charles J. Hitch, David S. Saxon, David P. Gardner, J. W. Peltason, and Richard C. Atkinson. On her retirement from the Office of the President she was granted the title Assistant to the President Emerita in recognition of her service to the University.
Pelfrey holds a Ph.D. in English literature from UC Berkeley.
Current research interests include the history of the University of California and the organization and governance of the UC system; policy issues in UC and other research universities; women’s leadership in higher education; nineteenth-century ideas about knowledge, cognition, and higher education and their relation to contemporary thinking about universities.
Publications
Books
- "Nannerl Keohane and the Women's Initiative at Duke University," in Ambar, Carmen Twillie, Carol T. Christ, and Michele Ozumba, Editors. Junctures in Women's Leadership: Higher Education (Rutgers University Press, 2020).
- Entrepreneurial President: Richard Atkinson and the University of California, 1995-2003 (University of California Press, 2012)
- The Pursuit of Knowledge: Papers and Speeches of Richard C. Atkinson (University of California Press, 2007)
- A Brief History of the University of California (with Margaret Cheney, University of California Press, 2004)
Papers and Articles
- "FROM THE GOLDEN AGE TO THE AGE OF AUSTERITY: Planning at the University of California, 1968-1983", Research and Occasional Papers Series, Center for Studies in Higher Education, July 2017.
- "The One-University Idea and its Futures," Research and Occasional Papers Series, Center for Studies in Higher Education, June 2016.
- "Whither Universities?” Response to “A New Model for the American Research University,” in Issues in Science and Technology, Summer 2015.
- "Romantic Knowledge," Research and Occasional Papers Series, Center for Studies in Higher Education, April 2015.
- "One University: The Evolution of an Idea," Research and Occasional Papers Series, Center for Studies in Higher Education, January 2011.
- "Science and the Entrepreneurial University," with Richard C. Atkinson. Issues in Science and Technology, XXVI, 4, Summer 2010.
- "Executive Compensation at the University of California: An Alternative View," Research and Occasional Papers Series, Center for Studies in Higher Education, May 2008.
- "Origins of the Principles for Review of Executive Compensation," Research and Occasional Papers Series, Center for Studies in Higher Education, May 2008.
- “Opportunity in a Democratic Society: Race and Economic Status in Higher Education," with Richard C. Atkinson. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 150, 2, June 2006.
- Rethinking Admissions: U.S. Universities in the Post-Affirmative Action Age," with Richard C. Atkinson. Invited paper at the UK and US Higher Education Finance and Access Symposium, Oxford University, September 29, 2004.
