{"id":128220,"date":"2020-11-02T15:22:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T22:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128220"},"modified":"2022-09-22T09:32:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T15:32:08","slug":"death-investigator-brings-lectures-to-life-janna-dahl-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128220","title":{"rendered":"Death Investigator Brings Lectures to Life | Janna Dahl \u201914"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Janna Dahl \u201914 never expected to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree, let alone graduate summa cum laude from UCCS and pursue a career as a death investigator. Yet she did just that. She got there \u2013 as she\u2019ll tell you over and over again \u2013 through the power of relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cRelationships are the key to career success,\u201d Janna said as she reflected on getting her foot in the door of the El Paso County Coroner\u2019s Office, where she now works as a medicolegal death investigator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the professors at UCCS that made this place feel like family,\u201d she continued. \u201cMy job at the Coroner\u2019s Office came about because of one of my professors, who knew my potential supervisor and recommended me. They did everything in their power to ensure that I was going to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Janna pays those experiences forward. When she\u2019s not working 48-hour shifts called to the scenes of unexpected deaths by homicide, suicide, overdose or accident \u2013 or natural deaths in the home \u2013 she lectures for the School of Public Affairs and the Gateway Program Seminar at UCCS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe opportunity to lecture while also working in the field is invaluable,\u201d Janna said. \u201cI hope it brings my lectures to life in the same way that my undergrad professors\u2019 experiences did for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We caught up with Janna to hear what it\u2019s like to assist with forensic investigations and autopsies (for 48 hours straight), her most difficult career moment and where she plans to go in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n