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June 10, 2004

John L. “Jack” Karns

John L. “Jack” Karns, a professor, department chair and attorney who taught criminal justice and legal studies courses at Pitt for more than three decades, died on May 6, 2004.
Karns had been hospitalized recently with heart problems and had had a pacemaker installed, but his death was unexpected, said a spokesperson at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), where Karns was an associate professor and director of the graduate criminal justice minor in the school’s public and urban affairs division.
Karns, who also held a joint appointment in the sociology department, “was an incredible teacher and cared a great deal about his students,” said Lee Weinberg, an associate professor and undergraduate division director at GSPIA. “He was a visionary – he built the administration of justice and legal studies programs in the College of General Studies” (CGS), which annually enrolled more than 900 undergraduates and 50 graduate students, and employed 10 full-time and 21 part-time faculty members. In 1987, the program moved to GSPIA.
Paralyzed by a neck injury suffered in a high school wrestling match, Karns put other people at ease about his disability and didn’t allow it to stop him from pursuing his career in academics, consulting and the law, according to Weinberg.
After serving at Pitt as a senior teaching associate in sociology, Karns was promoted in 1972 from acting director to director of the administration of justice program in CGS. He directed that program, as well as the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in Law and Justice, until 1987. From 1987 to 1989, he was director and associate professor in GSPIA’s law and justice concentration. During 1994-95, Karns was a visiting professor in the criminal justice department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
In addition to serving as a professor and administrator in GSPIA from the late 1980s to 2004, Karns was a consultant for a number of government agencies including the Allegheny County public defender’s office (2001-04), the International Management Development Institute in Djakarta, Indonesia (1993 and 1994) and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas (1989-90).
Karns earned all of his academic degrees – including a J.D., Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in sociology, and a B.A. in political science – from Pitt.
He is survived by his wife, Margaret E. Karns, and a daughter.
– Bruce Steele


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