Joanna Gregson

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Provost Joanna Gregson, Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, at PLU. (PLU Photo / Sy Bean)

Phone: 253-535-7126

Email: gregson@plu.edu

  • Professional
  • Biography

Additional Titles/Roles

  • Professor of Sociology

Education

  • Ph.D., Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1998
  • B.A., Sociology, Western Washington University, 1993

Areas of Emphasis or Expertise

  • Research Methods
  • Deviance / Criminology
  • Sex and Gender
  • Family

Books

  • Culture of Teenage Mothers (State University of New York Press 2010) : View Book

Biography

As Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Joanna Gregson, Ph.D. leads the academic division and collaborates with, supports, and advises the President’s Council and President Allan Belton on strategic planning for the academic division, including advising on new academic initiatives, faculty affairs, and advancing the academic mission and intellectual positioning of PLU.

Gregson joined the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at PLU in 1998. She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Western Washington University, and her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2012.

As a faculty member, Gregson has taught and conducted research in the areas of deviance, gender, and qualitative research methods. Over the span of her career, she has published on such topics as teenage mothers, incarcerated mothers, and divorced women. Since 2010 she has been conducting participant observation research with the authors of romance novels, examining the gendered aspects of the career and how women experience writing what has been described as the most popular, least respected literary genre.

At PLU, Gregson has a long record of faculty governance and leadership experience. She has served on and chaired the Campus Life Committee, the Rank and Tenure Committee, and the Governance Committee, and has served as Chair of the Faculty, Vice Chair of the Faculty, and Faculty Secretary. Her service record also includes chairing the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

Gregson was honored with the Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005, the Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring in 2011, and the PLU Mortar Board Society “Top Prof” award in 2017.