Tracy Rutler

Tracy Rutler is an Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University, with dual appointments in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and French and Francophone Studies departments. Her research bridges Queer Studies, Disability Studies, and Enlightenment thought, focusing on intersections of kinship, gender, and political philosophy in early modern literature.

• Education: B.A. and M.A. from the University of Kansas; Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Her work interrogates heteronormative family structures, medical discourses, and colonial narratives through queer and interdisciplinary lenses. Recent publications explore affective experiments, colonial healing practices, and prosthetic identities in 18th-century French texts.

Notable projects include the co-created Legacies of the Enlightenment initiative, which reimagines Enlightenment ideologies through open-access pedagogical resources. Awards include the Harry and Elissa Sichi Early Career Professorship, recognizing her innovative research.