Peter E. Nathan was born on April 18, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri. He received the B.A. in social relations from Harvard College in 1957 and the Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Washington University in 1962. He was a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty from 1962 to 1969 and from 1969 to 1987 served as director of clinical training in psychology in the Graduate School at Rutgers, The State University. From 1987 to 1989 he was a program officer with the MacArthur Foundation.

In 1990 Nathan was appointed University of Iowa Foundation Distinguished Professor of Psychology. During the same year he was named Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties at the University of Iowa, a position he held until 1993 when he was appointed Provost. In 1995 he was Acting President of the university between the Rawlings and Coleman administrations.