Criminal Justice

Prof. Andra Lewis began as a Lecturer in the Department of Criminal Justice at UNT in the fall of 2011. Prior to joining the UNT faculty she was assigned as a Crime Scene Supervisor with the Dallas Police Department. Prof. Lewis’s education includes a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry from California State University Long Beach and a Master of Science degree in Forensic Science with a concentration in Advanced Investigations from the University of New Haven. In addition, Prof. Lewis has a graduate certificate in Fire Science and is certified as a Crime Scene Analyst with the International Association for Identification.

Prof. Lewis started her career in Crime Scene working for a medium sized police department in California where she provided a supervisory role at all major crime scenes and provided specialized and technical crime scene processing, fingerprint identification and comparison, forensic photography and documentation. In December 2004, she was employed as a Trace Evidence Examiner for the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science where she was responsible for the examination of evidence for gunshot residue in order to determine weapon to subject distance and the examination of evidence for trace evidence including hairs and fibers, glass, paint, soil and gunshot residue.

In December 2006, Prof. Lewis joined the Dallas Police Department as a Crime Scene Analyst and was the first civilian hired to work major crimes against persons offenses. During her career as a Crime Scene Analyst with the Dallas Police Department, she processed more than 70 homicides, 15 officer involved shootings, 200 robberies, 75 sexual assaults, 125 home invasion robberies and 150 assaults. In February 2009, Prof. Lewis was promoted to a Crime Scene Supervisor and was the first civilian supervisor for the unit. She was responsible for the supervision of both sworn crime scene detectives and civilian evidence technicians that respond to major crimes against persons and property crime offenses.

Prof. Lewis has a deep seated passion for Crime Scene Investigations. She is energetic and enthusiastic and has the ability to pass on her knowledge in a clear and effective manner. Both as a Crime Scene Analyst/Supervisor, and currently as a lecturer in the criminal justice department, Prof. Lewis is sought after for her opinion and expertise on major offenses and has consulted on numerous cases at the request of the Homicide Section as well as the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.