As a college English professor, Jennifer has spent many years designing and teaching innovative courses in literature, film, and writing. Currently teaching writing courses at Santa Rosa Junior College, Jennifer has previously worked as a tenure-track university professor at Kansas State University, and an adjunct instructor at Indiana University. She holds a Ph.D in English and Irish Studies from the University of Notre Dame and the Keough Institute for Irish Studies.

Her academic research explores the arc of state-sponsored violence against women and recovers radical female activists and writers in Irish political history. She has also published in the areas of crime/detective literature, feminist philosophy and psychoanalysis, film, and the use of technology and popular culture in writing courses. Jennifer has been an invited guest speaker, presented papers at international and domestic conferences, and her award-winning research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and books.

Passionate about fighting injustice, Jennifer has volunteered rape-crisis assistance as a certified sexual assault victim__s advocate for Sexual Offense Services, led fundraising campaigns for no-kill animal shelters like Pet Refuge, and participated in pet-assisted therapy programs with the Sonoma County Humane Society for neglected elderly guests at convalescent hospitals. She has been vegetarian for 15 years (newly vegan) and focuses on fighting animal experimentation, domestic cruelty, and animal exploitation in entertainment, dogfighting, industrial agriculture, and wildlife management. She is a staff writer for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.