Jennifer Bulcock

Jennifer Bulcock joined the Gittis Legal Clinics’ staff as the Social Work Supervisor in 2023. In this role she supervises social work students from Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice who are placed with the clinic and work closely with the clinic’s student lawyers. She also provides non-legal support to clinic clients and works closely with clinic directors to develop and teach curriculum focused on trauma-informed lawyering and client well-being.

Jennifer has a unique background as a mental health professional, college educator, and advocate for those impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system and U.S. immigration law. She is a licensed social worker in the state of Pennsylvania and has experience as a mobile crisis worker, a reentry caseworker for men incarcerated in the Philadelphia jails, and as a therapist at a college counseling center. In her work she prioritizes a relational and anti-oppressive approach.

Prior to becoming a mental health professional, she spent six years as a philosophy professor at Cabrini University specializing in applied ethics and social and political philosophy. She concurrently served as the Assistant Director for the Center on Immigration for three years and, along with her colleagues, led advocacy efforts for immigration reform at the state and national level and organized educational events. Additionally, she taught with the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program at Montgomery County Correctional Facility. She is a longtime volunteer with Vecina, a non-profit organization providing free legal assistance to immigrants, and is a board member for Arise Immigration Services.

She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Rice University, an M.S.W. from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in Justice Studies and a B.A. in Philosophy and English from the University of New Hampshire.