Amanda Stephens

Biography

Amanda Stephens, J.D., joined St. Mary’s University School of Law as a Law Success Instructor in 2022 and is now an Assistant Service Professor in Law.

Before joining St. Mary’s, Stephens practiced general civil litigation at Ferguson law (Bloomington, Indiana) and insurance litigation defense at Valdez & Treviño (San Antonio. Texas). Throughout and after law school, she has also engaged in various pro bono activities in mostly of the area of family law and served on local city boards. 

Stephens grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, where she earned her B.A. and M.A. in English from Marshall University. Thereafter, she obtained her J.D. and Ph.D. in Gender Studies from Indiana University-Bloomington. Her qualitative research centers on women volunteers in northern India who navigate India’s patriarchal societies.

In her free time, Stephens enjoys weightlifting; being outdoors; and spending time with her spouse, dog and cat.

• Internal Faculty Research Grant Award, for research project entitled, Brahman Saviors: Confronting Our Investments in Women’s Inequality, St. Mary’s University, 2023
• Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Grant, Indiana University-Bloomington, India, 2017
• Critical Language Enhancement Award—Hindi, Indiana University-Bloomington, India, 2016
• Critical Language Scholarship—Hindi, Indiana University-Bloomington, India, 2015
• Kenneth and Louise Yahne Fellowship, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2014
• National Association for Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Student Award, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2014
• Terry and Judy Albright Pro Bono Publico and Public Interest Award, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2014
• Robert McConnell Memorial Scholarship, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2013
• A* (Highest Grade in Class) in Feminist Jurisprudence, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, 2013

Academic Publications

• Sean Viña and Amanda Stephens, Minorities’ Diminished Psychedelic Returns, 9 Drug Sci., Pol’y & L. 1 (2023).
• Psychedelics and Workplace Health Promotion, 14 Frontiers in Psychiatry 1(2023).
• Book Review, 115 Feminist Rev. 193 (2017) (reviewing Rethinking Peacekeeping, Gender Equality, and Collective Security (Gina Heathcote & Dianna Otto eds., 2014)).
• Amanda Stephens and Sean Viña, On Women Professors Who Teach Legal Writing: Addressing Stigma and Women’s Health, Vermont L. Rev. (forthcoming 2024).

Articles in Periodical

• Women Volunteers’ Navigation of Patriarchy and Respectability in Rajasthan, Indiana University-Bloomington, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (2022). (Doctoral Dissertation.)
• Review of Rethinking Peacekeeping, Gender Equality, and Collective Security, by Gina Heathcote and Dianna Otto, eds, Feminist Review (Mar. 2017).
• Women with Short Hair, Marshall University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (2010). (M. A. Thesis.)

Presentations

• “Brahman Saviors: Confronting Our Investments in Women’s Inequality,” St. Mary’s University’s Annual Research Symposium and Creative Activities Exhibition, 2023, San Antonio, TX, 2023.
• “Addressing Stigma in the LRW Classroom,” Annual Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference, 2023, Las Vegas, NV.
• “Law, Religion, and Gender: Strategic Entanglements for Women’s Empowerment,” Fulbright-Nehru Annual Conference, 2018, Delhi, India.
• “Women’s Empowerment: Looking through the Prism of Law, Religion, and Gender,” United States-India Educational Foundation Speakers Series, 2018, Chennai, India.
  “Decolonial Methodologies in Jain’s Gulabi Gang,” National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference, 2016, Montréal, Québec.
  “From Feminist Mother to Militant Feminist: Changes in Women’s Rhetoric in India’s Gender Reservation Debate, 1974 to 2014,” National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference, 2015, Milwaukee, WI.

Public Commentaries

• Commentary, Seek Gender Equity at Space Command, San Antonio Express-News, Dec. 8 2020.
• Letter to the Editor, Brief Experience (criticizing the lack of legal and judicial experience of then-Supreme Court nominee Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett), San Antonio Express-News, Oct. 25 2020.
• Letter to the Editor, Denounce Lawmakers’ Comments (criticizing Indiana state legislators’ sexist comments about the 2017 Women’s March in Indianapolis), Herald-Times, Feb. 16, 2017.
• Guest Column, A Call for Daily Resistance to Rape, Indiana Daily Student, Apr. 26, 2016.