Jennifer Parker graduated with honors from Rutgers University in Camden with a B.A. in Women's and Gender Studies. During her undergraduate career, she was awarded a research grant with which she completed a project titled "Mothers of Autistic Children 1940-1978: From Refrigerator Mothers to Neurobiology". With the guidance of Dr. Laurie Bernstein, she inspected how past mental health professionals blamed mothers for their children's autism and traced the etiological shift of the disorder. Jennifer was awarded the Dean's Prize for Undergraduate Research and the Women's Studies Prize for her work on this topic. She participated in and completed the NEW Leadership program run by the Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics, which sparked her interest in women's participation in politics. Jennifer's academic and philanthropic interests are broad, including issues of disability, contemporary and historical constructions of motherhood, women's health, and women and work.
MA Alumni Listing
Parker, Jennifer
- Committee: Jocelyn Elise Crowley, Judith Gerson, Mary Trigg
- Post-MA Employment/Education: Child Protective Services Specialist I, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Austin, TX
- Thesis/Practicum: Thesis: A Look is Enough: Interviews with Mothers of Children with Autism
- RU Core Link: Visit Website
