In 2013, Caucasus University, in Tbilisi, Georgia, awarded King its Doctor Honoris Causa in recognition of his leadership in international higher education.
He graduated from Fermin Lasuen High School in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, where he was student body president[citation needed].
After completing his graduate education at UC Berkeley, King became a faculty member of the masters program in Counseling at Sonoma State University, in 1987, where he was a lecturer until 1992.
[1] Later, as president of Antioch University Los Angeles (2006-2011) he transformed a $1M deficit into a $7M surplus in five years, and oversaw the development of a new master's program in Urban Sustainability.
[4] He is the author of Speaking Our Truth: Voices of Courage and Healing for Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, published in 1995 by Harper Perennial.
These included changing the name to reflect it was a university, introducing an undergraduate degree program with WASC oversight, as well as "professionalizing the staff", and completing a re-branding process - which was opposed by some in the community.
King and several board members resigned effective January 2014 due to lack of a functional governance system at the school.
King served as a team chair and member of the Eligibility Review Committee (ERC) for the senior commission of Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).[when?]
King married Peter Morrison in August 2008, during the five-month window of legal same-sex marriages in California, preceding the passage of Prop 8.