Ken Bechtel

H. Kenneth Bechtel was born and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota.  He received his undergraduate degree in sociology from North Dakota State University (B.A., 1972).  He continued his education with graduate training in sociology at North Dakota State University (M.A., 1974) and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (Ph.D., 1983).  He joined the Wake Forest Sociology faculty in the fall of 1982.  His current teaching interests include courses in Criminology, Deviant Behavior, Juvenile Delinquency, the Sociology of Law, and Homicide.  He has conducted research and published in the areas of police history, professional deviance among scientists, the historical presence of minorities in science, the role of women in the legal profession, and the impact of regional culture on homicide.  In 1989 he co-edited (with Willie Pearson, Jr.) and wrote the introductory chapter for Blacks, Education, and American Science: Perspectives on the Black Presence in American Science.  In 1995 he published State Police in the United States: A Socio-Historical Analysis, a book describing and analyzing the rise of state-level law enforcement agencies in the United States.  Most recently he has written “Edward Alexander Bouchet” for the American National Biography (1999), and “Scientific Deviance” for the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior (2000).

Curriculum Vitae

COURSES TAUGHT

SOC 152:  Social Problems
SOC 154:  Deviant Behavior
SOC 339:  Sociology of Violence
SOC 341:  Criminology
SOC 342:  Juvenile Delinquency
SOC 343:  Sociology of Law
SOC 352:  White Collar Crime