Jill Bender

Jill Bender serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, specializing in the interconnected dynamics of the nineteenth-century British Empire across global colonies.

Her academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. in History from Boston College
• M.A. in Culture and Colonialism from National University of Ireland, Galway
• B.A. in History from College of William and Mary

Her research critically examines transnational colonial networks, focusing on how events like the 1857 Indian Uprising reverberated through Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, and the Cape Colony. Current work investigates gendered dimensions of famine-era migration, specifically tracing Irish workhouse women's forced displacement to Australian, Canadian, and southern African colonies. This scholarship reveals power structures in imperial crisis management and cross-colonial solidarity.

Dr. Bender's teaching portfolio encompasses European Empires and Colonial Encounters, British History (1688–present), The Modern British Empire (1750–present), The Irish Famine, and specialized seminars on War, Gender, and Crime in Victorian News. Her pedagogical approach emphasizes primary source analysis of imperial connections through courses like Topics in World History: Ireland, India, and the British Empire.