Valerie Jenness (born March 7, 1963) is an author, researcher, public policy advisor, and professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Jenness is currently a Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and prior to that, was a Senior Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan. Jenness served as Dean of the School of Social Ecology from 2009 to 2015 and Chair of the Department of Criminology, Law and Society from 2001-2006. Jenness is credited with conducting the first systemic study of transgender women in men's prisons.
