Jennifer W. Reiss

Jennifer W. Reiss is a Ph.D. candidate and Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in North Atlantic history during the long eighteenth century with a focus on gender, disability, and legal frameworks. Her research examines how Anglo-American societies constructed disability through gendered lenses, particularly through her dissertation Undone Bodies: Women and Disability in Early America.

• Education: B.A. (summa cum laude) from UPenn; J.D. (Harvard), LL.M. and M.Phil. (Cambridge)
• Fellowships: Davida T. Deutsch Dissertation Fellowship, Marguerite Bartlett Hamer Fellowship
• Teaching: Developed undergraduate seminar Women in the Law of Early America and served multiple teaching fellowships

Her interdisciplinary work bridges legal, medical, and social histories, with recent publications in Journal of the Early Republic, Law & Literature, and European Law Journal. Active in academic service, she holds leadership roles in graduate governance at UPenn and coordinates the McNeil Center's Brown Bag Series.

• Key Awards: Runner-up, Morris L. Cohen Essay Competition (2023); multiple travel grants
• Public Engagement: Featured in Washington Post, Penn Today, and podcast Gender Jawn

Prior to academia, Reiss practiced law in New York and London focusing on human rights litigation and corporate accountability, including work with NYU's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.