Peter Herrity was appointed Head of Department in 2001, having previously served as Acting Head of Department twice during the tenure of his predecessor, while Malcolm Jones was Pro-Vice Chancellor.
He learnt Russian while undertaking his National Service as an officer in the Intelligence Branch of the Royal Air Force. He worked in the Foreign office from 1957-61 and then obtained a first class honours degree in Russian language and literature from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London (1962-65). He was awarded a University of London postgraduate scholarship and studied for a PhD in Serbo-Croat , first for a year at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia and then at the University of Moscow. He was awarded his doctorate in 1974.
His first post was as lecturer in Russian at the New University of Coleraine (1968-71) and he was then appointed lecturer in Russian and Serbo-Croat at the University of Nottingham, where he oversaw the teaching of Serbo-Croat and Slovene. Peter was then appointed Reader in Slavonic Studies and his expertise in Slovene enabled the Department and the University to reaffirm links with the University of Ljubljana. He was appointed Professor in 1999.
When the department celebrated 30 years of the Slovene lectorate with the Slovene Ambassador, Peter was presented with an award by the University of Ljubljana in recognition of his tremendous contribution to Slovene studies.
Peter published Slovene: A Comprehensive Grammar in 2000, marking the first comprehensive grammar of the language in English. A revised and expanded edition was published in 2016. He continues to pursue his research interests in retirement, and is now an Emeritus Professor.