Jennifer Musial

Jennifer Musial (she/her) is a white, settler/immigrant, neurodivergent, feminist teacher-scholar who earned all her degrees from interdisciplinary programs. She is one of the few professors with a PhD in Women's Studies, a point of great pride. She publishes in three fields; 1) reproductive justice and gender-based violence; 2) critical yoga studies; and 3) Women’s and Gender Studies (WGST) field formation.

Musial always has multiple projects on the go. One project is a book manuscript that examines the affective dimensions of reproductive citizenship. In addition to print works on this topic, she is building a digital site that memorializes murdered pregnant women beyond the typical "true crime" rendering of their stories. In 2010, Musial completed a 200-hr yoga teacher training with follow-up trainings in Reiki (Level 2), Yin Yoga, Yoga for Trauma and Recovery, and Prison Yoga. She taught in studios, drop-in spaces, college campuses, and two carceral facilities. Since then, Musial published journal articles and book chapters that analyze yoga culture through feminist, critical race theory, and prison abolition politics. Since 2016, she has been the Managing Editor for Race and Yoga, the first peer-reviewed journal on this topic.

Musial's passion for Women's and Gender Studies shows up in her classroom where she teaches students about the usefulness of feminist theory to make sense of their lives. She relishes mentoring students who major or minor in WGST. Musial also publishes on the role of doctoral education in WGST field-formation. She also participates in the National Women's Studies Interest Group for people with WGST PhDs.

From 2022-2024, Musial was a co-PI with Dr. Caroline Wilkinson on the Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium (DEFCon) grant through the Mellon Foundation. Secured by Dr. Sonya Donaldson, Musial's role is to build capacity in digital humanities with fellow NJCU faculty, local Artists in Residence, and Community Partners under the mantle of Community Engaged Learning. Through the grant, Musial hired several NJCU students as co-researchers on DEFCon projects.

Finally, Musial teaches WGST General Education classes as well as upper-division courses that serve the WGST major. It is a source of joy to meet students at the beginning of their path at NJCU and then again at the end. Musial says that nothing beats the energy of a spirited discussion in the WGST classroom! Musial began her term as Department Chair in Fall 2023; she encourages anyone who is interested in WGST (major or minor) or Sexuality and Queer Studies (minor) to get in touch.