Karen Gordon

Karen Gordon joined the College Research and Evaluation Services Team (CREST) in 2021 as a Research Scientist. Her expertise in qualitative research methodologies, quantitative analysis, and interest in program evaluation afford her the opportunity serve as an external and internal evaluator on projects funded through the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Education, Arizona Department of Health Services, and local non-profit organizations such as one-n-ten.

Dr. Gordon led a team at ASU to create the comprehensive, case-study driven 2023 Arizona Policy, Systems, and Environmental (PSE) Change in Arizona Communities Playbook. This playbook serves as a resource for community organizations and individuals who wish to incorporate PSE strategies into their public health interventions. She also served as a partner for the Arizona Resilience Assessment report. These resources were created in partnership with the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) for the Arizona Health Improvement Plan (AzHIP). 

Dr. Gordon has been faculty in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice since 2018. Her research and teaching interests in this area focus on social control, stigmatization, punishment, sex crimes, victimology, intimate partner violence, homicide, health consequences of victimization, crime victim health promotion and behavior, violence prevention, race, gender, and intersectional identities. She teaches courses on law and social control, research methods, victimization, race and crime, sex crimes, mass shootings, media and crime, intimate partner violence, and gender and crime. Dr. Gordon is an ACUE certified college instructor.

While pursuing her Masters in Public Health, Dr. Gordon interned with the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. At ACESDV, she worked with the organization to provide high-quality background research for sexual violence prevention trainings including the role of public health in violence prevention efforts, capacity building, and houselessness and sexual violence. She also contributed community needs assessment toolkits.