Melissa Burek

Dr. Melissa Burek serves as a Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Education, Research, and Engagement at Bowling Green State University's College of Health & Human Services. She also directs the Center for Justice Research with the Ohio Attorney General's Office under Attorney General Dave Yost and is a Faculty Affiliate of the Criminal Justice Learning Community. Dr. Burek earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati and has been with BGSU since 2003, where she is housed in the Department of Human Services.

Dr. Burek's research spans two interconnected domains with growing synergy. Her criminal justice work focuses on offender reentry, institutional and community corrections, substance use and mental health disorders among justice-involved populations. More recently, she has expanded into healthcare workforce research, particularly examining nursing assistant turnover in long-term care settings using ecological frameworks. This interdisciplinary approach connects criminal justice research with healthcare systems, recognizing the overlap between justice-involved populations and healthcare needs.

Her publication trends reveal an expanding research agenda that bridges criminal justice and healthcare systems. Early work centered on corrections and reentry, while recent publications increasingly examine workforce issues in long-term care settings through the same ecological lens she applied to criminal justice research. This methodological consistency across domains demonstrates her unique interdisciplinary perspective.

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration research projects
• Ohio Department of Youth Services funded investigations
• Ohio Department of Health research initiatives
• Principle Business Enterprises, Inc. grant for nursing assistant turnover research

Dr. Burek serves on the Facility Governing Board at the NorthWest Community Corrections Center and as the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Trustee-At-Large. Her leadership extends to the Police Integrity Research Group and Labor Trafficking Research initiatives at BGSU, demonstrating her commitment to addressing contemporary challenges across multiple systems that serve vulnerable populations.