Ackelsberg joined the faculty at
Smith College in 1972. Ackelsberg was one of the first professors in the Women's studies program at Smith College, which she has been credited with helping to build. Throughout her first several decades as a professor, Ackelsberg was active in Jewish feminist activism with groups like
B'not Esh. In 2006, she was appointed the Five College 40th Anniversary Professor at Smith College, and in 2007 she was named the
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor. Ackelsberg also wrote the 2010 book
Resisting Citizenship: Feminist Essays on Politics, Community, and Democracy. The essays particularly focus on power as obtained and expressed by feminist activists among their lager communities. Ackelsberg's work has been covered in media outlets like
Nexo Jornal and the
Jewish Voice, and she has written for
Gotham Gazette. Her partner is
Judith Plaskow, professor emerita of religious studies at
Manhattan College. The Jewish Women's Archive has described Ackelsberg as a Jewish lesbian feminist
anarchist activist. ==Selected works==