Aparna Polavarapu: Reimagining Justice, One Story at a Time

When you first meet Professor Aparna Polavarapu, it is clear she is not someone who followed a predictable path. Sure, she’s got the résumé: a J.D. and LL.M. from Georgetown University, M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School, and years of teaching and research in human rights and restorative justice. But what stands out most is how much heart she brings to the work.

Polavarapu recently joined the William S. Boyd School of Law as Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, bringing with her a career defined by one big idea: justice isn’t just something handed down from a court — it’s something built, repaired, and sustained within communities.

Before coming to UNLV, she spent over a decade at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she founded the South Carolina Restorative Justice Initiative. The program wasn’t just academic theory; it connected law students, community partners, and people directly impacted by the justice system to reimagine what accountability and repair can look like after harm occurs. “Restorative justice is about understanding harm and helping people take responsibility for it — not just punishing, but actually working to repair what was broken,” she says. “That takes courage and a lot of support.”

Her scholarship explores that idea on a global scale, too. She’s written about gender-based violence, land rights, and the ways community-led justice systems challenge, and sometimes improve upon, traditional state institutions. Her work has appeared in major law journals, and she’s received multiple awards for her teaching and scholarship, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Justice Award from the University of South Carolina.

But if you ask how she got here, the story starts far from the law library. Polavarapu began her academic life in neuroscience at MIT. “By junior year, I realized I wanted to pursue something else,” she laughs. “I was fascinated by people — what drives them, what breaks them, how they make things right.” An internship led her toward law, and international work opened her eyes to restorative justice through a human rights lens.

Her career has never been about staying in the box, something that is still true today. One of her last big projects before leaving South Carolina was a storytelling initiative that gave incarcerated individuals a platform to share their own narratives. “Storytelling is deeply tied to restorative justice,” she says. “It’s how people make sense of harm, healing, and change.” The project culminated in a public film and celebration dinner. Afterwards, she adds, “I took a very long nap.”

Since arriving in Las Vegas, she’s been exploring the city beyond the Strip. “Talking to people here, including the faculty, the staff, the community, I realized this is a place where creativity and care actually coexist,” she says. “It’s the kind of environment where I can thrive.” Her kids are already taking classes at the Las Vegas Circus Center, and she proudly admits the most “Vegas” thing she’s done so far is go to BattleBots.

When she’s not teaching or writing, she’s reading, usually science fiction and fantasy. “Those genres do such a good job asking hard questions about humanity and power,” she says. Two recent favorites: The Space Between Worlds and Only a Monster.

Polavarapu’s journey has never been linear which, in a way, mirrors the work she’s dedicated her life to. Restorative justice is not a straight line from harm to punishment; it’s a web of conversation, accountability, and repair. “We have to keep reminding ourselves we’re always learning,” she says. “And we have to be careful, because people can use the language of justice without doing the real work.”

That’s what makes her addition to Boyd Law so exciting. She’s not just teaching theory; she’s building spaces for that “real work” to happen. Whether it’s in a classroom, a community partnership, or a conversation over her favorite celebration rice dish, pulihara, Aparna Polavarapu is finding ways to turn justice into something living, human, and deeply hopeful.