Nancy J. Knauer is the Sheller Professor of Public Interest Law and the Director of the Temple Law & Public Policy Program. She teaches in the areas of Law and Public Policy, Political and Civil Rights, Property, and Taxation. Professor Knauer has received numerous awards for teaching, service, and scholarship.

An internationally recognized scholar, Professor Knauer’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of law, policy, and politics, with an emphasis on civil rights and democratic institutions. She is a subject matter expert in LGBTQ rights, health law, disaster law, property law, taxation, and law and aging. Professor Knauer is the co-editor of the 40-chapter interdisciplinary and international Research Handbook on Law, Society and Ageing (forthcoming 2024). She is also the author of more than fifty academic articles, books, and book chapters, including the book Gay and Lesbian Elders: History, Law, and Identity Politics in the US (2011). Her article LGBT Elder Law: Toward Equity in Aging (32 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 1 (2009)) received both the Dukeminier Award and the Stu Walker Prize from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law in 2010.

In 2012, Professor Knauer created the Temple Law & Public Policy (L&PP) Program where students study at the intersection of law, policy, and politics. Based in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, the L&PP Program combines theory, practice, and professionalism and allows students to gain experience with policy making on the federal, state, and local levels. Professor Knauer’s innovative approach to legal education earned a profile in the book What the Best Law Teachers Do, published by Harvard University Press in 2013.  The book featured 26 law professors who were selected from more than 250 nominees teaching at over 100 law schools.

Professor Knauer is the co-founder of the Aging, Law & Society Collaborative Research Network of the Law & Society Association and served on the Executive Committee of the Family Law Institute of the National LGBT Association.