Our Faculty and Staff

Grace A. Telesco, Ph.D. is a Professor of Sociology, Social Work and Criminal Justice at Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Telesco is a retired Lieutenant who served 20 years with the NYPD and started her career patrolling the Housing Projects in Brooklyn, New York ultimately earning a spot in the Anti Crime Undercover Unit. Among Dr. Telesco's various assignments during her tenure with the NYPD, she served as Commanding Officer/Chairperson of the Behavioral Science Department at the NYC Police Academy and worked on a major overhaul and revision of the Recruit Behavioral Science Curriculum.

While with the NYPD, Dr. Telesco served as Commanding Officer of the Recruitment Section, Detective Squad Supervisor for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and Senior Instructor at the Police Academy. Following the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, as part of her position as a Lieutenant with the Community Affairs Division, Dr. Telesco was appointed the Interagency Coordinator of Mental Health Services at the Family Assistance Center where families of the victims received crisis intervention and support.

During her law enforcement and academic career, Dr. Telesco has developed various educational programs at the university level utilizing sociodrama techniques and has presented on numerous topics related to social policy, crisis intervention, and disaster preparedness.

Following Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Telesco was deployed to New Orleans by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA to be part of the elite DTAC Team (Disaster Technical Assistance and Consultation) offering assistance to the Governor of Louisiana and the State Office of Mental Health, providing critical incident stress debriefing to the New Orleans Police Department.

Dr. Telesco earned her Masters in Arts in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Ph.D. in Social Work from Fordham University, Graduate School of Social Service. Dr. Telesco's scholarship interests are on the topics of; domestic violence, post-traumatic stress disorder in police, and Sociodrama as a methodology in education. Dr. Telesco is Faculty Advisor for both the Sociodrama Club: Stage for Change and Alpha Phi Sigma/Omega Tau Chapter.