About Jane Scimeca

Jane Scimeca teaches at Brookdale Community College where she holds the rank of Professor of History. She earned a Master Degree in History and Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from Rutgers University. Prof. Scimeca teaches a variety of courses including Women's History, World Civilization I and II, and New Jersey History. She recently presented her paper, “The Price of Liberty is Maternal Vigilance: Understanding Women’s Political Engagement Since the 2016 Election” at the national conference “Since Suffrage…” At Auburn University.

Her publishing credits include the article, "Pink is the New Red, White and Blue" in the Asbury Park Press (March 2017) and several ancillary texts for Houghton-Mifflin Publishers. She is also a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of New Jersey.

Her area of academic interest is Women’s History. Prof. Scimeca developed the curriculum for Brookdale Community College first course in the Women’s History in 1995 and collaborated to develop Brookdale’s Women’s Studies Program. Over the last 25 years she has taught thousands of students about the history of women in America.

Prof. Scimeca speaks frequently on campus as well as in the community on topics in Women’s History.

Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1

Jane's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Jane:

Holly A. Baggett, "Making No Compromise: Margaret Anderson, Jane Heap, and the Little Review" (Northern Illinois UP, 2023)

January 30, 2024

Making No Compromise

Holly A. Baggett
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Holly A. Baggett's Making No Compromise: Margaret Anderson, Jane Heap, and the Little Review (Northern Illinois UP, 2023) is the first book-length acc…

Michelle J. Manno, "Denied: Women, Sports, and the Contradictions of Identity" (NYU Press, 2023)

December 23, 2023

Denied

Michelle J. Manno
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Women’s college basketball is big business—top teams bring in millions of dollars in revenue for their schools. Women’s NCAA games are broadcast regul…

Shannon McKenna Schmidt, "The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back" (Sourcebooks, 2023)

November 6, 2023

The First Lady of World War II

Shannon McKenna Schmidt
Hosted by Jane Scimeca
Listen:

Shannon McKenna Schmidt's The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back (Sourcebooks, 2023) is the fir…

Janet Somerville, "Yours, for Probably Always: Martha Gellhorn's Letters of Love and War 1930-1949" (Firefly Books, 2022)

October 3, 2023

Yours, for Probably Always

Janet Somerville
Hosted by Jane Scimeca
Listen:

Before email, when long distance telephone calls were difficult and expensive, people wrote letters, often several each day. Today, those letters prov…

Brooke Kroeger, "Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism" (Knopf, 2023)

August 21, 2023

Undaunted

Brooke Kroeger
Hosted by Jane Scimeca
Listen:

Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put i…

Nicole Evelina, "America's Forgotten Suffragists: Virginia and Francis Minor" (Two Dot Books, 2023)

July 26, 2023

America's Forgotten Suffragists

Nicole Evelina
Hosted by Jane Scimeca
Listen:

After being forgotten for nearly 130 years, the “Mother of Suffrage in Missouri” and her husband are finally taking their rightful place in history. …

Jacqueline Beatty, "In Dependence: Women and the Patriarchal State in Revolutionary America" (NYU Press, 2023)

June 11, 2023

In Dependence

Jacqueline Beatty
Hosted by Jane Scimeca
Listen:

Patriarchal forces of law, finance, and social custom restricted women’s rights and agency in revolutionary America. Yet women in this period exploite…

Christopher H. Evans, "Do Everything: The Biography of Frances Willard" (Oxford UP, 2022)

May 21, 2023

Do Everything

Christopher H. Evans
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Frances Willard (1839-1898) was one of the most prominent American social reformers of the late nineteenth century. As the long-time president of the …

Robin M. Morris, "Goldwater Girls to Reagan Women: Gender, Georgia, and the Growth of the New Right" (U Georgia Press, 2022)

March 23, 2023

Goldwater Girls to Reagan Women

Robin M. Morris
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Goldwater Girls to Reagan Women: Gender, Georgia, and the Growth of the New Right (U Georgia Press, 2022) is a statewide study of women’s part in the …

Leonard C. Spitale, "Victorine Du Pont: The Force Behind the Family" (U Delaware Press, 2022)

February 24, 2023

Victorine Du Pont

Leonard C. Spitale
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Victorine Elizabeth du Pont, the first child of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont and his wife Sophie, was seven years old when her family emigrated to America…

Elisabeth Eittreim, "Teaching Empire: Native Americans, Filipinos, and Us Imperial Education 1879-1918" (UP of Kansas, 2019)

February 16, 2023

Teaching Empire

Elisabeth Eittreim
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

At the turn of the twentieth century, the US government viewed education as one sure way of civilizing “others” under its sway—among them American Ind…

Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, "Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century" (St. Martin's Press, 2022)

December 5, 2022

Skirts

Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

While the story of women’s liberation has often been framed by the growing acceptance of pants over the twentieth century, the most important and infl…

Nancy Woloch, "The Insider: A Life of Virginia C. Gildersleeve" (Columbia UP, 2022)

November 9, 2022

The Insider

Nancy Woloch
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Virginia C. Gildersleeve was the most influential dean of Barnard College, which she led from 1911 to 1947. An organizer of the Seven College Conferen…

Sherry Boschert, "37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination" (New Press, 2022)

October 14, 2022

37 Words

Sherry Boschert
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

A sweeping history of the federal legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in education, published on the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX. “No …

Beverly Weintraub, "Wings of Gold: The Story of the First Women Naval Aviators" (Lyons Press, 2021)

September 28, 2022

Wings of Gold

Beverly Weintraub
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

On Feb. 2, 2019, the skies over Maynardville, Tennessee, filled with the roar of four F/A-18F Super Hornets streaking overhead in close formation. In …

Kate Mangino, "Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home" (St. Martin’s Press, 2022)

September 7, 2022

Equal Partners

Kate Mangino
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

From gender expert and professional facilitator Kate Mangino comes Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home (St. Martin’s Press, 2022), an in…

Margarita R. Ochoa and Sara V. Guengerich, "Cacicas: The Indigenous Women Leaders of Spanish America, 1492-1825" (U Oklahoma Press, 2021)

July 26, 2022

Cacicas

Margarita R. Ochoa and Sara V. Guengerich
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

The term cacica was a Spanish linguistic invention, the female counterpart to caciques, the Arawak word for male indigenous leaders in Spanish America…

Carol A. Lipscomb, "The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin & the Nocona Boot Company" (Texas Tech UP, 2021)

June 21, 2022

The Lady Makes Boots

Carol A. Lipscomb
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

In the summer of 1925, Enid Justin--daughter of H. J. Justin, founder of legendary Justin Boots--announced to her family that she was going to start h…

Stephen Vider, "The Queerness of Home: Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of Domesticity After World War II" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

May 25, 2022

The Queerness of Home

Stephen Vider
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Stephen Vider uncovers how LGBTQ people reshaped domestic life in the postwar United States. From the Stonewall riots to the protests of ACT UP, histo…

Ellen S. More, "The Transformation of American Sex Education: Mary Calderone and the Fight for Sexual Health" (NYU Press, 2022)

April 29, 2022

The Transformation of American Sex Education

Ellen S. More
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Mid-century America had a problem talking about sex. Dr. Mary Calderone first diagnosed this condition and, in 1964, led the uphill battle to de-stigm…

Liz Clarke, "The American Girl Goes to War: Women and National Identity in US Silent Film" (Rutgers UP, 2022)

March 23, 2022

The American Girl Goes to War

Liz Clarke
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

During the 1910s, films about war often featured a female protagonist. The films portrayed women as spies, cross-dressing soldiers, and athletic defen…

Catherine Ehrlich, "Irma's Passport: One Woman, Two World Wars, and a Legacy of Courage" (She Writes Press, 2021)

February 21, 2022

Irma's Passport

Catherine Ehrlich
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

In Irma's Passport: One Woman, Two World Wars, and a Legacy of Courage (She Writes Press, 2021), Catherine Ehrlich explores her Austrian grandparents’…

Kristin Waters, "Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought" (U Mississippi Press, 2021)

January 21, 2022

Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought

Kristin Waters
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Kristin Waters' book Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought (U Mississippi Press, 2021) tells a crucial, almost-forgotten story of …

Tanya L. Roth, "Her Cold War: Women in the U.S. Military, 1945–1980" (UNC Press, 2021)

November 19, 2021

Her Cold War

Tanya L. Roth
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Tanya L. Roth's Her Cold War: Women in the U.S. Military, 1945–1980 (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) explains that while Rosie the Riveter h…