Jessica L. Waters

Jessica L. Waters, J.D., has 25 years of experience as a lawyer, scholar, teacher, and higher education executive.

Waters currently serves as the Director of the American University School of Public Affairs (SPA) Leadership Program where she focuses on equipping students with experience, skills, and knowledge to prepare them for leadership roles in public service. Professor Waters is also a Faculty Fellow in the Center for University Excellence, which brings university research expertise to pressing problems in the public domain.

Waters recently served for seven years as American University’s first Dean of Undergraduate Education and Vice Provost for Academic Student Services (2016-2023) after holding multiple leadership positions at the university. As Vice Provost and Dean, she was the leader and principal decision-maker regarding American University’s undergraduate curriculum and academic supports and was charged with strategic decision-making and risk assessment for university-wide undergraduate policies and procedures.

Waters holds faculty appointments in the American University School of Public Affairs and the Washington College of Law. Her research focuses on reproductive rights law and policy, particularly exploring questions related to the legal impact of women’s medical decisions during pregnancy and childbirth, abortion regulation and access, state control of reproductive decision-making, employment-based conscience protections for reproductive health care providers, and reproductive rights of employees working for religiously affiliated employers. Her work has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law, the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, and the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Waters is a frequent media expert and commentator for local, regional, and national outlets (CNN, Fox News, NPR, NBC, VOA, BBC). She delivered a 2016 TedX talk, Changing the Reproductive Rights Conversation, and has recently authored op-eds for The Hill and USA Today.