The Criminal Justice Department welcomed a new faculty member for the 2025-26 academic year.
Professor Casey Cavanaugh ’21 M’22 received her bachelor's degree from Saint Anselm in Criminal Justice and Social Work with a minor in Spanish and her master's degree in criminal justice and criminology. Cavanaugh credits her professors here with providing encouragement to attend graduate school and inspiring her education. Cavanaugh completed her Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration in Crime, Communities, and Solutions for Vulnerable Populations at the University of New Hampshire.
Cavanaugh spent two summers at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center. Victimization has always been an interest of hers ever since her community engaged learning opportunities at Saint Anselm connected her with a volunteer position at a crisis line for sexual and domestic abuse. Cavanaugh’s dissertation research focused on reentry and rehabilitation with one chapter being a program evaluation of the Dismas Home of New Hampshire in Manchester, where she currently serves on the board of directors. Cavanaugh comes from a family involved in law enforcement which sparked interest in criminal justice from a young age. Cavanaugh hopes to equip our future police officers, social workers, lawyers, judges, corrections officers, and policy makers, among others, with the tools to be successful in the field, and hopes to encourage all students to engage with intention both in the classroom and in the community.