About & CV

Hello! I’m Jordan Grasso (they/them), and I am a doctoral candidate in Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California Irvine (UCI), which sits on the unceded ancestral homelands of the Tongva people. I am also a California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Doctoral Fellow and a Pedagogical Fellow at UCI. I hold a B.A. in Criminology and Justice Studies and an M.A. in Sociological Practice from California State University San Marcos.

While completing my M.A., I participated in the San Diego and Imperial County Community College Association’s (SDICCCA) Fellowship program, where I was mentored by a local community college professor (Dr. José Briceño at Palomar Community College) and gained valuable training and on-the-job teaching experience. After completing the fellowship and attaining my M.A., I spent one year teaching sociology courses at two Southern California community colleges before my passion for research and further education guided me back to graduate school.

Now at UCI, I am working towards attaining a Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society with emphases in Feminist Studies and Law, Society, and Culture. I teach in the Criminology and Justice Studies Department at CSU Northridge and the Sociology Department at CSU San Marcos. Besides my research and teaching commitments, I currently serve at UCI as an LGBTQ+ peer mentor, graduate peer mentor, and a Co-Chair for the Graduate Strategic Communications Committee within the Criminology, Law and Society Department. I am the current chair of the Pacific Sociological Association’s Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Persons in Sociology. Additionally, I am a Pedagogical Fellow at UCI and a CSU Chancellor’s Doctoral Fellow (under the mentorship of Dr. Richelle Swan at CSU San Marcos).