Jennifer Rea
Documents
I am an Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona and a Principal Investigator with OneOp, where my work is shaped by both scholarship and lived experience as an active duty military spouse. My professional interests center on military spouse employment, career continuity, and workforce mobility within military-connected families. I am especially interested in the ways frequent relocation, caregiving responsibilities, and the unpredictability of military life can reshape careers, financial well-being, and family stability.
At the heart of my work is a deep belief in the strength, adaptability, and resilience of military families. I am passionate about turning research into practical, meaningful strategies that help professionals better support military-connected individuals and families. Whether through research, teaching, or applied programming, I aim to connect ideas to action in ways that are useful, relevant, and grounded in real life.
My current research explores military spouse employment, career continuity, and workforce mobility, with a particular focus on the structural barriers that make career development uniquely complicated in military life. I am interested in questions like:
- What happens to a career when life comes with a new zip code every few years?
- How do systems, policies, and support networks help or hinder long-term success?
- And how can we better support military-connected families as they navigate work, caregiving, and constant transition?
I am especially drawn to strengths-based and resilience-oriented approaches that recognize military families not only for the challenges they face, but for the creativity, persistence, and adaptability they bring to those challenges. My work also examines how employment connects to financial readiness, family well-being, and quality of life. Ultimately, I care about research that does something — research that informs practice, shapes resources, and helps build better systems of support.
As an educator, I am passionate about preparing students for success beyond academia. I want students to leave the classroom with more than knowledge — I want them to leave with confidence, curiosity, practical skills, and the ability to think critically about the world around them.
My teaching in Human Services, and Human Development and Family Science emphasizes real-world application, thoughtful leadership, and a strong commitment to serving others. I challenge students to connect theory to practice, ask good questions, and see themselves as future professionals who can make a meaningful impact in the lives of individuals, families, and communities. I care deeply about helping students build lives and careers that are not only successful, but purposeful. I am especially committed to engaging online students who are often balancing school alongside work, family, caregiving, and all the other moving pieces of daily life, and I strive to create learning experiences that are supportive, meaningful, and relevant to the realities they navigate every day.
I currently serve as the Principal Investigator for the OneOp Military Spouse Employment Collaboration Team. In this role, I support strategic planning and program development related to military spouse employment, career pathways, and workforce mobility. My work includes educational programming that offers free professional development to providers serving military families. I am especially passionate about creating practical, research-informed resources that help professionals better support military-connected individuals and families.
- Military spouse employment and career continuity
- Workforce mobility and career development in military-connected populations
- Financial readiness and family well-being
- Strengths-based and resilience-oriented approaches
- Human services practice and professional development
- Career coaching and workforce readiness strategies
- Online teaching and student engagement
- Applied, research-to-practice translation
- Strategic planning and program development for military family support initiatives