Rittner was born in 1943 and raised in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, to a Catholic mother and Protestant father.
[4] A few years later, she produced a film titled The Courage to Care which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).
[8] After her visiting professorship ended, she was invited to stay as the Dr. Marsha Raticoff Grossman Professor in Holocaust Studies.
[9][10] A few years later, she received the 2010 Sister Rose Thering Award from the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.
[13] She also produced the film Sisters alongside director Robert Gardner which focused on the lives of five nuns.