Dr. Peter Ward is a professor in the department of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. His principal research interests are Latin American urbanization. At various times he has served as adviser to the Mexican government and to a number of international development agencies.

He received his PhD from the University of Liverpool in 1976 and has subsequently held senior teaching and research positions at University College London (1976-85), The University of Cambridge (1985-91), and at the University of Texas at Austin (1991-present) where he holds the C.B. Smith Sr. Centennial # 1 Chair in US-Mexico relations, and is professor in the department of sociology (College of Liberal Arts), and in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.