Vanessa Dixon has been a Lecturing Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at California State University, Long Beach since 2014. She has over twenty years of experience in both policing and academia. Beginning her career as a police officer in the City of Lowell, MA, where she served as a patrol officer for over 10 years. In 2004 Ms. Dixon transitioned to a teaching career serving as a Professor of Criminal Justice at Middlesex Community College in Massachusetts, attaining tenure in 2010. She has served as the past Criminal Justice Chair of the Computer Forensics Advanced Technology Education Program and was trained as an advanced instructor with the Ford Foundation. In 2012, Ms. Dixon was awarded the National Faculty Member of the year for Outstanding Excellence in Academia, from Westwood College, in California. She holds instructor certifications in Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence from the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; she is a Level 3 Instructor from the California POST Instructor Development Institute (IDI) and a certified instructor with both the Gang Resistance Education Training (GREAT) and the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) curriculums. Ms. Dixon presents nationwide on sociological topics, with an expertise in the areas of youth trauma, child abuse and prevention, domestic violence, human trafficking and implicit bias. She currently provides Implicit Bias Training for both Los Angeles and San Bernardino County Probation Departments, and in the private sector across the county as well sharing her passion and knowledge as an active Board Member for the Child Abuse Prevention Center of Orange County, CA, working with at risk youth and their families. Ms. Dixon has dual Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice from American International College, Springfield, MA, and a Master of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Anna Maria College, Paxton, MA.
