School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Ava Thorpe is a criminal justice professional with instructional and career expertise in criminal justice and forensic investigation. She is deeply committed to educating criminal justice professionals in both research and field practicum. As a former practitioner, she has held many positions in criminal justice. She has worked as a death investigation specialist, medicolegal investigator, police officer, deputy sheriff, community supervision officer, and inmate records clerk. She has also worked in higher education since 2016. Her focus is expanding criminal justice curriculum to support real world experiential knowledge geared towards transferability to the field of policing, homeland security, forensic investigation, intelligence, and research.