Dr. Chrys Ingraham, Professor Emerita

Dr. Chrys Ingraham, Emerita

 

Dr. Ingraham, Professor in Sociology, holds a Ph.D. in Sociology, a Masters in Public Administration and Graduate Certification in Women's Studies from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. She joined the faculty at Russell Sage College in 1993 and taught in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice where she specialized in social theory, social inequality, media and cultural studies. BEfore her retirement in May 2007, she taught Sociological Theory; Race and Ethnicity; Class, Power, and Privilege;  Gender and Sexuality; Sociology of Media; and Sociology of Education.

Dr. Ingraham served as Director of the Helen M. Upton Center for Women's Studies for ten years and in the Women Changing the World general education curriculum each semester. Most recently, Dr. Ingraham became affiliated with the faculty in the Business and Organizational Management major, co-teaching courses in social responsibility, conflict management, ethics, and social auditing. This new major breaks ground in the field of management studies by integrating sociological perspectives into the curriculum and by synthesizing themes of social responsibility throughout.

Teaching is a place where creativity can flourish and expand the ways we approach learning and the production of knowledges. Dr. Ingraham made use of the classroom as a space for both critical and creative thinking. In 2006-07, students in Dr. Ingraham's gender and sexuality class wrote and performed their own Jerry Springer show as a way to illustrate issues of public sexuality. And, students in Ethics and Social Responsibility were especially active and creative, participating in the first annual Social Responsibility Fair with a mock-up sweatshop and other activities that educated and mobilized the entire college community. They also produced a video on ethical issues and globalization for their final exam.

Publications:

  • "One is Not Born a Bride," New Studies in Sexuality, Routledge, 2006.
  • "Thinking Straight, Acting Bent: Heteronormativity and Homosexuality," Handbook on Gender and Sexuality, Sage Publications, 2006.
  • Thinking Straight: The Power, the Paradox, and the Promise of Heterosexuality, Routledge, 2005.
  • White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture, Routledge, Routledge 1999; 2nd edition, 2006.
  • Materialist Feminism: A Reader in Class, Difference, and Women's Lives (with Rosemary Hennessy), Routledge 1997.
  • "The Heterosexual Imaginary: Feminist Sociology and Theories of Gender," Sociological Theory, June 1994.
  • "Ritualizing Heterosexuality: Weddings as Performance," in Sexualities, edited by Robert Heasley and Betsey Crane, New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • "Unnatural Acts: Critiquing Normative Heterosexuality," in Handbook of Lesbian and Gay Studies, edited by Diane Richardson and Steven Seidman, London: Sage
  • "Just What Does it Mean to be Ethical in American Business Today?" (with Eileen Brownell), Capital District Business Review, January 24.
  • "Wedding Debt," featured expert for front page New York Times article, July 14, 2003.

Presentations:

  • "Saving Heterosexuality," Five Colleges Women's Studies Symposium, Amherst, MA, 2006.
  • Visiting Faculty, Sociology of Media, Smith College, 2006.
  • Visiting Faculty, Sociology, Skidmore College, 2004-2005.
  • Visiting Faculty, Sociology, University at Albany, Fall 2003
  • Guest Speaker, "Romancing Heterosexuality," Smith College, Spring 2003.
  • Visiting Faculty, Sociological Theory, Smith College, Fall 2002.
  • Commentator, Weddings in Popular Culture Panel, Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, University of Connecticut, June 2002.
  • "Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture," Distinguished Speaker Series, University at Albany, 2000.
  • "The Pleasure of Heterosexual Spectacle," Speaker Series on Power and Pleasure, Yale University, October 2000.