Derek J. Paulsen

Derek J. Paulsen, PhD is the first Commissioner of Planning, Preservation and Development for the city of Lexington where he oversees the divisions of Planning, Engineering, Building Inspection, Code Enforcement, Historic Preservation, Purchase of Development Rights and the Office of Affordable Housing. Prior to becoming Commissioner, Paulsen spent the previous decade as a Full Professor of Criminal Justice at Eastern Kentucky University where he was also the Director of the Center for Crime and the Built Environment (CABE). Commissioner Paulsen still teaches occasional classes and is active in research on secure design and crime prevention issues, urban analytics and neighborhoods and crime. Paulsen is the author of numerous articles and 3 books, including the recently published Crime and Planning: Building Socially Sustainable Communities jointly published by the American Planning Association and CRC Press. A frequent presenter at both academic and professional conferences, Paulsen has been an invited speaker at over 50 conferences on 4 continents.