Kenneth Peak, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professor

Summary

Ken Peak is an emeritus professor and former chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he was named "Teacher of the Year" by the University's Honor Society.

Following service as a municipal police officer in Kansas, he held positions as a nine-county criminal justice planner for southeast Kansas; director of a four-state Technical Assistance Institute for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (based at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas); director of university police at Pittsburg State University (Kansas); acting director of public safety, University of Nevada, Reno; and assistant professor of criminal justice at Wichita State University.

He has authored or co-authored 38 textbooks (on introductory criminal justice, general policing, community policing, justice administration, police supervision and management and women in law enforcement), two historical books (on Kansas temperance and bootlegging) and more than 60 additional journal articles and invited book chapters.

He is a past chairman of the Police Section, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and past president of the Western Association of Criminal Justice. He received two gubernatorial appointments to statewide criminal justice committees while residing in Kansas and holds a doctorate degree from the University of Kansas.

Education

  • Ph.D., Educational Policy and Administration, University of Kansas, 1983
  • M.A., Sociology, Pittsburg State University
  • B.A., Sociology, Pittsburg State University