  Understanding the nature and identity of dark matter is a key goal in the
physics community. In the case that TeV-scale dark matter particles decay or
annihilate into standard model particles, very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays
(greater than 100 GeV) will be present in the final state. The Very Energetic
Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) is an imaging atmospheric
Cherenkov telescope array that can indirectly detect VHE gamma rays in an
energy range of 100 GeV to > 30 TeV. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are
ideal candidates in the search for dark matter due to their high dark matter
content, high mass-to-light ratios, and their low gamma-ray fluxes from
astrophysical processes. This study uses a legacy data set of 638 hours
collected on 17 dSphs, built over 11 years with an observing strategy optimized
according to the dark matter content of the targets. The study addresses a
broad dark matter particle mass range, extending from 200 GeV to 30 PeV. In the
absence of a detection, we set the upper limits on the dark matter
velocity-weighted annihilation cross section.
