Dr. Gregory L. Weiss
Dr. Gregory L. Weiss
Professor
Department: Sociology
Office: 303 Trout Hall
Phone: 375-2416
weiss@roanoke.edu
Degrees:
B.A., Sociology, Wittenberg University, 1971; M.S., Sociology, Purdue University, 1972;
Ph.D., Sociology, Purdue University, 1975
Courses:
Research & Teaching Interests:
Four main areas of teaching interest: (1) medical sociology (including focus on the influence of the social environment on health and illness, understanding interaction among people who provide and receive health care services, and the health care system), (2) medical ethics (including the principles that are used to make complex ethical decisions relative to medicine), (3) research methods (including quantitative and qualitative research methods), and (4) Native Americans (especially the Navajo and Hopi).
Scholarly Activities:
Scholarly interests are focused in four areas: (1) the ability of theoretical models, such as the Health Belief Model, to explain participation in healthy or risky health-related lifestyles, (2) medical care treatment near the end of life (including the role of do-not-resuscitate orders and palliative care) and factors that influence attitudes about euthanasia and physician- assisted suicide, (3) the evolution of free health clinics in the United States, and (4) issues within the scholarship of teaching and learning (including the assessment of student learning).
Extracurricular:
Active member in several professional associations, including the American Sociological Association (and its Sections on Teaching and Learning, Medical Sociology, and Animals and Society and the Department Resources Group), the Southern Sociological Society, the American Public Health Association, and the Virginia Social Science Association. On campus, have served as Director of the Institutional Self-Study in preparation for reaccreditation review, as Director of Assessment, as department chair, as a member and chair of the Health Professions Advisory Group, and as director (and founder) of the Center for Community Research. Am a faculty advisor for Alpha Kappa Delta and the coordinator of the health care delivery concentration. In the community, have worked with the Bradley Free Clinic, Planned Parenthood, and the Council of Community Services and am currently a volunteer with the SPCA and its Pet Therapy Program and the St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog program.
Books:
Author of Grass Roots Medicine: The Story of Free Health Clinics in the United States (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006); co-author of The Sociology of Health, Healing, and Illness (now in its sixth edition, Prentice Hall, 2006); and co-author of Experiencing Social Research (Allyn & Bacon, 2005).
Recent Publications:
Have published more than 30 articles in scholarly journals such as Teaching Sociology, Medical Care, Death Studies, the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, and the Annual Review of Research in the Sociology of Health.
Bio:
Dr. Gregory Weiss joined the Roanoke College faculty in 1975. Since that time, he has taught a variety of courses within the department, but his speciality areas are Medical Sociology, Ethics and Medicine, Research Methods, and Native Americans. He is the coordinator for the Health Care Delivery concentration. Dr. Weiss founded the Roanoke College Center for Community Research in 1983 and served as its Director until 1991. Dr. Weiss was selected as the Circle K Outstanding Professor in 1979, as Blue Key Professor of the Year in 1985, as the recipient of the Dean's Council Exemplary Teaching Award in 1996 and the Dean's Council Professional Achievement Award in 2003, as the recipient of the State Council on Higher Education Outstanding Faculty Award in 2005, as the recipient of the Hans Mauksch Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Sociology in 2005 and as the recipient of the Southern Sociological Society Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award in 2007.
Dr. Weiss has published more than 30 scholarly articles and made more than five dozen presentations at professional meetings. He is the author of Grass Roots Medicine: The Story of Free Health Clinics in the United States (Rowman and Littlefield); lead author of a medical sociology textbook, The Sociology of Health, Healing, and Illness (now in 6th edition, Prentice Hall), and co-author of a research methods anthology, Experiencing Social Research (Allyn and Bacon). Dr. Weiss was Co-Editor of the Virginia Social Science Journal for eight years, has served on the Editorial Board of Teaching Sociology, and does frequent reviewing for other journals. He is an active member of several professional associations; has chaired the American Sociological Association Committee on Distinguished Contributions to Teaching; served as Secretary-Treasurer of the ASA section on Undergraduate Teaching; and has served as President of the Virginia Social Science Association and the Virginia Sociological Association.