Meet Dr. Vanda

A criminologist, researcher, educator, and journalist, Dr. Vanda currently serves as the Director of the Criminal Justice Program and Professor of Criminal Justice at Kingsborough Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY). With nearly four decades of hands-on experience, she has made significant contributions to public safety and criminal justice reform.

She retired from the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s Office, where she led the County Reentry Taskforce. Prior to that, she served as the Statewide Director of Reentry Services for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (Parole), overseeing a team that provided critical resources and support to individuals under community supervision. She also served as Executive Director of the ComALERT program—the first full-service reentry initiative operated by a prosecutor’s office in the country.