Jennifer Dudley is a doctoral candidate in Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, with a minor in Quantitative Research Methods. Her research focuses on politics, culture, and organizations. Her dissertation tests three possible sources of incivility in American politics. The first two are selection effects: the people who choose to run for office and the people most likely to be elected by American voters. The second is an influence effect: organizational pressure on members of Congress after they join.

Dudley received her bachelor's and master's degrees from California State University, Northridge. She has presented her research at the American Sociological Association annual conference as well as the Pacific Sociological Association and California Sociological Association annual conferences. She has also served her scholarly community by working as a coordinating editor for the American Sociological Review and as a webmaster for the ASA Political Sociology Section.