Dr. Peter B. Dedek's doctorate is in history with an emphasis in historic preservation from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. His master's and bachelor's degrees are both from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and he also holds a Certificate in historic preservation from the University of New Orleans.

Before coming to San Marcos, Dr. Dedek taught interior design at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana for two years and taught at Radford University for a year as a temporary lecturer in interior design prior to that. His professional background is centered around historic preservation and residential design. He worked in the Division of Architecture at the Texas Historical Commission in Austin for several years and worked for Michael Emrick, AIA, a preservation architect in Nashville, Tennessee, while in graduate school, doing both historic preservation and residential design. In addition, he's also done a number of independent consultancies in building preservation and residential design in Louisiana and Texas .

At Texas State, he teaches history of design courses, residential studio, Design Development (a studio that prepares students to enter residential studio), and senior studio. In the fall 2006 semester, he taught a graduate course in historic preservation at the invitation of the Texas State Department of History.

Hip to the Trip: a Cultural History of Route 66, Peter Dedek's book, is currently available from the University of New Mexico Press.