Faculty Profile for Dr. Patti Giuffre

Biography Section

Biography and Education

I began teaching at Texas State University in 1998. I became the Associate Dean of Retention for The Graduate College in 2023, after serving for over two years as the Assistant Dean. As Associate Dean, my portfolio focuses on the professional development of graduate students. With support from Graduate College staff, I organize Shop Talks, Texas State 3MT®, the Graduate Student Research Conference, and Graduate Student Appreciation Week, among other activities and events for our incredible graduate students at Texas State. Prior to my work for The Graduate College, I was the graduate director in the sociology department for 8 years. I advised graduate students in the MA in Sociology, MS in Applied Sociology, interdisciplinary MA/MS in Sustainability Studies, and online MS in Dementia and Aging Studies programs.

Teaching Interests

I teach courses on gender and qualitative methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My goal is to teach in a way that increases students' critical questions, inquisitiveness, thirst for knowledge, abilities to evaluate evidence, and excitement about sociology.

Research Interests

My areas of specialization include work and occupations, gender, sexuality, qualitative methods, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. I have conducted research on gender inequality at work, sexual harassment, and sexual orientation discrimination. Dr. Deborah Harris and I have collaborated on several articles, conference papers, and a book about gender inequality in the culinary industry: Taking the Heat: Women Chefs and Gender Inequality in the Professional Kitchen (2015; Rutgers University Press). Most recently, Dr. Gretchen Webber and I have presented papers and published articles about two topics: (1) women's work relationships with other women, and (2) gendered messages and stereotypes in popular press "career advice" books for women (for example, Lean In, Nice Girls Still Don't Get the Corner Office, Own It, and How Women Rise).