Odyssey Medal

Lorna Pierce

Lorna Collins Pierce

Lorna Pierce was born in Tennessee and reared in the southern states. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in Liberal Arts from Hendrix College, a B.A. in Anthropology and M.A. in Social Science / Anthropology from San Jose State University, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Pierce is an adjunct lecturer at both San Jose State University and Santa Clara University where she teaches a class in Introduction to Forensic Anthropology. She is the Consultant in Forensic Anthropology at the Santa Clara County, Calif., Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office and regularly consults with and teaches workshops for other law enforcement organizations in the identification of skeletal material.

She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the International Association for Identification and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Forensic Identification.