Associate Professor - Justice & Human Services/Director - School of Criminal Justice
College Administration
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice
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.