Helen Ahn Lim, Ph.D.
Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice
hlim@callutheran.edu
805-493-3550
Swenson 218
About
Dr. Helen Ahn Lim is Professor in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department. She received her undergraduate degree in Social Ecology from the University of California, Irvine, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University, Bloomington. Dr. Lim joined California Lutheran University in 2005 and has served as Director of the Center for Academic Service Learning (2011-2014), Chair of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department (2016-2022), and Associate Dean for the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division, College of Arts and Sciences (2023-2026).
She teaches a variety of courses, including Criminology and Senior Capstone. Her publications have included the areas of hate crime and criminal justice pedagogy. Her current teaching and research interests include human trafficking. Dr. Lim enjoys teaching service-learning courses and building community partnerships. Her community partners for her service-learning courses have included Ventura County Probation, Ventura County Rescue Mission, ZOE International (an anti-child trafficking organization), and Interface, Children & Family Services (key partner of the Ventura County Human Trafficking Task Force). She also enjoys mentoring students and serves as the faculty advisor for the Anti-Human Trafficking Club. In Fall 2019, while on sabbatical, she traveled to Thailand as an instructor for the joint ZOE International and Royal Thai Police Training Seminar.
In 2021, she was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Innovative Pedagogy from the College of Arts and Sciences at California Lutheran University. In 2022, Dr. Lim was honored with the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence, the university’s top teaching honor, which was created to “recognize professors who are held in high esteem by their peers, students, and the rest of the university community.”
Education
B.A., Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine
M.A., Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington
Ph.D., Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington