Meet the Faculty

Meet the Faculty

Chairperson, Gregory D. Gross, MSW:

Professor Gross has maintained his vitality via two forms of scholarship--studying and writing. Twenty-one credits of post-graduate study in theatre, much of that on Asian theatre, has aided in selection of class texts and has informed his grasp of cultural diversity. His publications span journals such as Family Therapy (on foster families), Journal of Religion and Aging (on the elderly), Journal of American Culture (on gay relationships), and Interrace Magazine (on bi-racial families). In 2000, The Encyclopedia of Aging published his review of the book, The Measure of My Days. In August/September 1999, The Journal of Teaching in Social Work published "The Drama of Prejudice: Three AIDS Plays," his article on the pedagogy of AIDS and homophobia. Later that year the reference work, Drama Criticism, anthologized his “Coming Up for Air: Three AIDS Plays” under its section on literary criticism on playwright and activist Larry Kramer, and in 2002 The Council on Social Work Education re-published "Drama" in Teaching Social Work Values and Ethics.

The year 2002 saw the publication of "ScienZart deconstructed to da Max: A (Post) Modest Proposal" and in 2003 "Witness Protection or I am a Seagull" appeared in The Journal of Progressive Human Services and Reflections: The Journal of Professional Helping, respectively. The Journal of Poetry Therapy published his "Deconstructing Death: Toward a Poetic Remystification and All That Jazz" also in 2003; several students contributed to the article by lending poems for inclusion. Professor Gross' manuscript "Deconstructing the Dominant Text in Domestic Violence…," co-written by Counseling’s Dr. M. Bologna, is currently under review by national journals. In 2005 The Journal of Sociology and Social Work published his article on the construction of aging masculinity in the era of Viagra and The Journal of Progressive Human Services published his “The End of Justice and the Last Brand.”

In 1992 and 1994, Professor Gross delivered papers at the New York State Social Work Education Association's annual meeting (one on AIDS plays and the other on Javanese shadow puppetry as means of delivering social work content on the micro and macro levels). In 1998, at the annual BPD Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he delivered "Gatekeeping for Cultural Competence Ready or Not: Some Post and Modernist Doubts," which the Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work published in April, 2000. He presented three other papers at the BPD Conference in 2000 and 2001.

In November 2002, Gross presented the postmodern approach on a panel titled “Social Work practice with an Older Adult: Teaching Through a Kaleidoscope of Relevant Theories” at the BPD conference in Pittsburgh. In March, 2003, he presented “Deconstructing Death…” at the National Gerontological Social Work conference and “Canditatus, Accreditatus, Ohgodhelpus: A Mock Opera in One Unnatural Act” for the Arts Program at CSWE’s Annual Program Meeting, both in Atlanta, GA and in 2004 he gave “The Viagra Dialogues: Medical Technology vs. Growing Old Disgracefully” at that conference held in Anaheim, CA.

In November, 2003, Professor Gross traveled to Reno, Nevada, for the annual national BPD Conference where he delivered two papers: “The End of Justice” and “Deconstructing the Domestic Violence Dominant Narrative…,” the latter of which he co-wrote with professor Michael Bologna of the College’s Counseling Department. The following year at BPD he presented “‘A Profession in Search of Sign Value’ or ‘Positively Queen Jane’” in Detroit.

Professor Gross has remained active off campus. In the past, he served for several years on the International Adoption Advisory Board of Parson's Family and Child Center, on K.A.F. (Korean American Families), an educational and support group for adoptive families, and on Camp Mujigae, a Korean Culture Camp for adoptees and their families. In 1996 Parson's and the camp honored Gross, who with his wife Judi had adopted two children from Korea, for having been a co-founder of Mujigae, ten years earlier. In 1995-1996 and 1996-1997 Professor Gross served as a mentor for the Educational Leadership Corps for minority students interested in careers in higher education. For the past decade he has served on the advisory board of the Human Services Program at Schenectady County Community College. From 1999 to the present, Professor Gross has served on The Correctional Rehabilitation and Life Skills Committee established by the Schenectady County Human Rights Commission.

For community theatre he has directed major plays that highlight issues of diversity related to single parent families and the elderly. In Summer 2000 Professor Gross wrote and directed a postmodern adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull in collaboration with Tseyhaya and Company, a modern dance company specializing in African influences. Gross directed this dance-drama with a cast composed almost exclusively of minority children and teens from the Albany inner city. Later that year he co-presented a workshop at the BPD conference on theatre of the oppressed. He now serves on the organization's board and was instrumental in bringing Tseyhaya to the campus as Company-in-Residence, 2002-2003.

His major interest in diversity, however, rests with Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Island peoples, about whom he injects content in several courses. This area of interest found its way into two presentations, Fall, 2000 -- one for the New York State Conference on Asian Studies and the other for the national BPD conference where he presented on the puppet theatres of India, Java, Vietnam, and Japan as cultural expressions of those four nations. In 2002-03 and 2003-04, Professor Gross chaired the year-long series, "The Year of Asia" at The College and presented "Southeast Asian Theatre: Dance, Trance, and Shadow," based primarily on his brief field research in Bali the previous summer.

The year 2002 marked Greg's 25th year at The College.

Email Gregory D. Gross Here

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