Instructional Professor

Phone: 713.743.3960
Email: sgrigorian@uh.edu
Office: 473 Philip G. Hoffman Hall
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Education

Ph.D., Anthropology, Rice University
M.A., Sociology, University of Houston
M.A., Anthropology, Rice University
                                                    B.A., Anthropology and Political Science, Rice University

Biography

Stella Grigorian joined the sociology department on a full-time basis in 2009 and is currently an associate instructional professor. Prior to that period, she taught at UH for several years in a part-time capacity, as well as teaching at other area institutions. Her dissertation work involved multi-year fieldwork in the Soviet Union where she studied the cultural impact of Soviet policies on the non-Russian cultures, especially, the Armenians and nationalism and the establishment of national culture within the Soviet Union and at the end of the Soviet Era. Her later research involved non-profits in the performing arts and how they recruit and maintain volunteers. Eventually, her research interests turned to gender and gendered immigrant stories of food and eating. She collects food-centric stories of immigration as told by immigrant women. These stories reveal immigrant experiences and dislocation, as well as community building. Her interest in foodways has involved her in the newly created Food Studies minor at the University of Houston as she teaches the sociology of food and the sociology of food and gender courses. Grigorian is an active member of the sociology department. She is the graduate faculty advisor, course scheduler and the department faculty senator to the UH Faculty Senate. She has served on several University committees, working hard to create and sustain a quality level work environment for the faculty and to create and sustain top education and educational experiences for the UH students.

Research Interests

Foodways, gender, nationalism, Soviet Era, culture, fieldwork methods

Teaching

• Introduction to Sociology
• Introduction to Sociological Theory
• Sociology of Culture
• Sociology of Food and Eating
• Sociology of Food and Gender