Dr. Jenkins's latest research focuses on the ways the Central Intelligence Agency works with Hollywood in order to boost its public image. Her book, The CIA and Hollywood: How the Agency Shapes Film and Television, was released by the University of Texas Press in March 2012. Dr. Jenkins has also researched the ways that spy television series have worked to construct shifting messages about U.S. nationalism and gender, as well as the ways that gender and sexuality function in reality television series and teen movies. Her work has been published in The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television; Media, Culture and Society; The Journal of Popular Film and Television; The Journal of Popular Culture, and The Journal of American Culture, among others. Dr. Jenkins also serves as the Book Reviews Editor for The Journal of Popular Culture.