Professional & Biographical Information
I support and advise students in both the History and the Sexuality, Women's & Gender Studies departments. I regularly offer the following courses: Introductory level - History of Sexuality; LGBTQ History in Popular Culture; U.S. Carceral Culture; Upper level seminars: Global Transgender Histories; Revolutionary America; Race Gender, and Sexuality in U.S. History. In 2023-24, I will be offering three new courses: Intro to Queer/Trans Studies, American Medical Injustice, and Early American Debates. I also serve as an advisor for the Five Colleges Certficiate programs in Queer/ Trans/ Sexuality Studies and Reproductive Justice.
Amherst College Service
- Five College Queer/Trans/Sexuality Studies Certificate, advisor
- Five College Reproductive Justice Certificate, advisor
- Editorial Board, Amherst College Press, 2019-22 (chair, 21-22)
- Committee of Six, 2020-22
- Organizer, Provost’s Inaugural Lecture Series & Seminar on History of Anti-Black Racism, 2020-21
- The President’s Anti-Racism Leadership Group, 2020-21
- Ad-Hoc Committee on Academic Structures During Covid-19, 2020
- Mellon Faculty Leadership Seminar, 2019-20
- Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid, 2018-20
- Advisory Board, Center for Humanistic Inquiry, 2016-17; 2018-20
Degrees
Ph.D., Rutgers University
B.A., University of Pennsylvania
Publications
Books
The Cambridge History of Sexuality in the United States, Vol. I: Early America and Vol. II: Modern America, eds., Jen Manion and Nicholas L. Syrett (Cambridge University Press, expected publication date 2024).
Female Husbands: A Trans History (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Winner, 2020 British Association for Victorian Studies Book Prize; Finalist, 2021 Lawrence W. Levine Award, Organization of American Historians
Liberty's Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). Winner, 2016 Mary Kelley Book Prize by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
Taking Back the Academy: History of Activism, History as Activism, eds., Jen Manion and Jim Downs (Routledge, 2004).
Honors
Elected Member of the American Antiquarian Society, 2020
Organization of American Historians, Distinguished Lecturer Program, 2018-21
Elected Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2018
Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America Grant, Harvard University, 2017-18
Slavery, Abolition, and Resistance Fellowship, Gilder Lehrman Center, Yale University, 2017-18
New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, Research Grant, 2017-18
Amherst College Trustee Faculty Fellowship, 2017-18
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society, 2012-13
Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2012-13
Top-25 Significant Queer Women of 2013 by Velvetpark Media, New York City
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award, Connecticut College, January 2011
Library Company of Philadelphia / Historical Society of PA, Mellon Fellowship, 2005-06
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Scholars in Residence Fellowship, 2005-06
McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Fellowship, 2004-05
The Institute for Research on Women, Rutgers University, Seminar Fellow, 2003-04
Professional Activities
Editorial Board, University of North Carolina Press, Gender and American Culture Series, 2022-present
Nominating Committee, Organization of American Historians, 2021-present
Editorial Board, Early American Studies, 2020-present
Council Member, Omohundro Institute, Williamsburg, VA, 2019-present
Editorial Board, The William and Mary Quarterly, Williamsburg, VA, 2019-present
AHA Committee on LGBTQ History Nestle and Romesburg Prize Committees, chair, 2020-21
OAH John D’Emilio LGBTQ History Dissertation Award Committee, 2020-21
Committee on the Status of LGBTQ Historians and LGBTQ Histories, OAH, 2018-22, chair, 20-21
Steering Committee, The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute / Massachusetts Historical Society Boston Seminar on the History of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, 2016-19