Professor, Political Science
Professor (on loan), Humanities
E-mail
kpeter@email.sjsu.edu
kenneth.peter@sjsu.edu
Additional Contact Information
Phone Number(s)
(408) 924-5562
Office Location
Clark hall 402F (Right across from the Political Science Department.)
Kenneth Peter was raised in Idaho and educated at Stanford, Chicago, and Princeton. He was fortunate to have been influenced by several truly gifted teachers of political theory, including Nan Keohane, Brian Barry, Joe Cropsey, Sheldon Wolin, and Dennis Thompson. One could hardly pick a more diverse set of teachers, and Ken turned into a methodological eclectic.
After finishing his Ph.D., Ken returned to his undergraduate roots and taught for two years in Stanford's program in Structured Liberal Education (SLE), a residential great books program. Following, he earned a permanent position at San Jose State, where he has taught all of our political theory courses as well as introductory American politics. Recently he has also taught for the Humanities Honors sequence, which has been one of the great intellectual challenges of his life. Ken agrees with Aristotle that "teaching is the highest form of scholarship."
Ken has published on diverse subjects, including Hobbes, Weber, Jefferson, ecophilosophy, and collegiality. At times he has been deeply involved in academic governance, having served as Chair of the SJSU Academic Senate, a member of the statewide academic senate, Chair of his Department, and on the Presidential Search (Advisory.)
Outside of work, Ken enjoys backpacking, photography, and parenting.
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