Valerie Jenness

Jenness, Valerie_CV_2024

 

Valerie Jenness is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, the Department of Sociology (by courtesy), and the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing (by courtesy) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She is the Chair of the Irvine Division of the Academic Senate. She has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University; a Visiting Professor in the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles; a Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and a Senior Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan. At UCI, she served as Interim Vice Provost of Academic Planning and Institutional Research, Dean of the School of Social Ecology, and Chair of the Department of Criminology, Law and Society.

Her research has focused on prostitution, hate crime, and prison violence and grievances to explore the links between deviance and social control, the politics of crime control, social movements and social change, and corrections and public policy. She is the author of four books, including: Appealing to Justice: Prisoner Grievances, Rights, and Carceral Logic (with Kitty Calavita); Making Hate a Crime: From Social Movement to Law Enforcement Practice (with Ryken Grattet); Hate Crimes: New Social Movements and the Politics of Violence (with Kendal Broad); and Making it Work: The Prostitutes’ Rights Movement in Perspective. She is also the co-editor of Routing the Opposition: Social Movements, Public Policy, and Democracy (with David Meyer and Helen Ingram) and the author of many articles published in sociology, law & society, criminology, and gender journals (e.g., American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Social Problems, Criminology, Law & Society Review, Criminology & Public Policy, and Gender & Society).

Her research has been honored with awards from the American Sociological Association, Society for the Study of Social Problems, the Pacific Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the Law and Society Association, the Western Society of Criminology, the University of California, and the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. It has been translated and reprinted in German, Greek, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish, presented at an array of professional conferences and universities in the U.S. and abroad (e.g., Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Columbia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, and South Africa), as well as to the U.S. Congress, the National Academy of Sciences, judges and staff attorneys for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. Finally, her research has been funded by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, the California Policy Research Center, the California Department of Mental Health, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the University of California, and Washington State University, and has been discussed in well-known media outlets, such as National Public Radio in the U.S. and Australia, the New York Times, The New Yorker, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian (London), and Salon Magazine.

Professor Jenness is an award-winning teacher and mentor. She has received teaching awards from the American Society of Criminology and the American Sociological Association, the University of California, Irvine’s Academic Senate’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, the President’s Award (for mentoring) from the Western Society of Criminology (twice!), and other teaching awards (e.g., “Faculty of the Year” from the Master of Advanced Study in Criminology, Law and Society program; “Most Inspirational Instructor” in the Department of Sociology at Washington State University and the “Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award” and the “Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research” at the University of California, Irvine), and other forms of recognition for her contributions to teaching (“Professor of the Month,” “Interesting Professor We Would Like to Meet Outside the Classroom,” “UCI faculty member who has had the greatest impact on a student’s education,” etc.). Extending her commitment to teaching beyond the university, Professor Jenness has developed innovative educational materials for public policy officials and practitioners; provided professional training to personnel working in jails, prisons, and immigration detention facilities; and served as an expert in civil litigation related to conditions of confinement in lock-up facilities. Her contributions to public policy development have been recognized by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Finally, Professor Jenness has served as an elected member of various professional committees and councils and she has served as an expert witness in civil litigation related to conditions of confinement in detention facilities as well as on cases related to policing involving LGBTQ+ people. She is a Past Co-Editor of Contemporary Sociology and Past President of the American Society of Criminology, the Pacific Sociological Association, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. She is on the Editorial Committee for the Annual Review of Criminology, and she has served as an Associate Editor for Social Problems and an Advisory Editor for Criminology, Social Problems, Gender & Society, Research in Political Sociology, Sexuality & Culture, and Race, Sex and Class; Vice-President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems; Chair of the Crime, Law, and Deviance section and Chair of the Sexualities section of the American Sociological Association, as well as Chair of the Social Problems Theory division and Chair of the Sexual Behavior, Communities, and Politics division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems; Vice-Chair of the Law & Society division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems; and a Member of the Board of Directors for the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Council for Sociology of Law section, the Crime, Law, & Deviance section, and the Collective Behavior/Social Movements section of the American Sociological Association.