The SWS Feminist Mentoring Award was established in 1990 to honor SWS Members who are outstanding feminist mentors. While the word “mentoring” is commonly used to describe a faculty-student relationship, this award has shown the breadth of ways that feminists do mentoring. In establishing the award, SWS recognized that feminist mentoring is an important and concrete way to encourage feminist scholarship.
This year’s Feminist Mentoring Award Subcommittee included Saida Grundy (Subcommittee Chair,) Rebecca P., Heather Laube, and LaToya Council. The Subcommittee decided that Dr. Jennifer Reich will be the recipient of the SWS 2023 Feminist Mentoring Award.
Dr. Jennifer Reich is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the University Honors and Leadership Program. She earned her BA from the University of California Santa Barbara and her doctorate from the University of California Davis, and she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health policy at the University of California San Francisco. Her research examines how individuals and families weigh information and strategize their interactions with the state and service providers in the context of public policy, particularly as they relate to healthcare and welfare. She is author of two award-winning books, Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System and Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines, and is editor of the books, Reproduction and Society and the State of Families. Her work has been featured in media outlets including The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, and Newsweek, and on the Netflix show, Bill Nye Saves the World. She teaches classes on healthcare, family, and reproductive politics.
Here are some highlights from Jennifer Reich’s nomination materials that were submitted by Emily Mann, with support from Tristan Bridges, Laura Carpenter, Patrick Grzanka, Jessica Harrison, Penny Harvey, Anthony Hatch, Joanna Kempner, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Krystale Littlejohn, Meika Loe, Zakiya Luna, Norah MacKendrick, Anna Muraco, Ranita Ray, LaTonya Trotter, and Jonathan Wynn.
Laura Carpenter noted, “Jennifer Reich’s mentoring comes with no hidden agendas or strings attached; she does not mentor to self-aggrandize or advance her own career. She mentors others because she believes she can—and indeed she does—help others reach the places where they can positively affect the world through their teaching and research.”
Anna Muraco detailed in her nomination letter, “At conferences, “Jennifer” takes time to meet with students and faculty members who have solicited her advice on scholarship and job searches; she then connects them with other scholars who are part of her network.”
LaTonya Trotter noted: “Speaking as a Black scholar, I know that getting us into the pipeline is one thing; getting us through it is a different matter altogether. With both encouragement and practical support, Jennifer has helped get me through it. When I was an Assistant Professor, she was not only encouraging of my research agenda, she provided incisive feedback on my book manuscript. As I went up for tenure, Jennifer gave me practical advice to help me navigate the hidden curriculum of that process. And, when she heard that my institution did not give me tenure, she stepped forward, without my asking, to support the job search that resulted in my current, tenured position. Although we have never shared the same institution, Jennifer has shown up, again and again, to help me make a place for myself in the academy.”
We hope you will join us in congratulating Jennifer and that you will make plans to join us for the 2023 Summer Meeting SWS Awards Reception that will take place on August 20, 2023, in Philadelphia, PA starting at 6:00 pm at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.
SWS Meeting Registration Form is now open: https://sws.memberclicks.net/2023summerreg! SWS Summer Meeting attendees must register for the SWS Meeting and must also be registered for the ASA 2023 Annual Meeting.