Jill Spencer Grigsby (born March 8, 1954) is an American sociologist whose areas of expertise include

demography Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...

and

sociology of the family Sociology of the family is a subfield of the subject of sociology, in which researchers and academics study family structure as a social institution and unit of socialization from various sociological perspectives. It can be seen as an example of ...

. She is an emerita professor of sociology at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

Early life

Grigsby was born in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

, and grew up in Riviera Beach and

Palm Beach Gardens Palm Beach Gardens is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County in the U.S. state of Florida, 77 miles north of downtown Miami. , the population was 59,182. Palm Beach Gardens is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, whic ...

nearby. She moved to the Boston area with her family in 11th grade and graduated from

Dover-Sherborn High School Dover-Sherborn High School, or DSHS, is a regional public high school in the town of Dover, Massachusetts, United States. It serves students from the towns of Dover and Sherborn, and is the senior school of the Dover-Sherborn Public School Distr ...

. She completed her undergraduate studies

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where she majored in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

. She then earned a doctorate from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in sociology and demography. Her dissertation was titled "The Use of Contraception for Delaying and Spacing Births in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Korea".

Career

Grigsby joined the

faculty in 1983. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the

National Institute on Aging The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the ...

for several years in the 1980s and 1990s. During the spring 2010 semester, she taught at

Doshisha University , mottoeng = Truth shall make you free , tagline = , established = Founded 1875,Chartered 1920 , vision = , type = Private , affiliation = , calendar = , endowment = €1 ...

Kyoto, Japan Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city ...

for the Associated Kyoto Program, and conducted research on the role of pets in Japanese family life. For a portion of the fall 2014 semester, she was the interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College. She retired in June 2021 as the Richard Steele Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology and was given emerita status.

Works

* * *

Personal life

Grigsby is married to Rett Bull, a computer science professor at Pomona. She has a daughter, Janet Light, a mental health counselor. She enjoys traveling and volunteers with the City of Claremont's Committee on Aging and the

House of Ruth House of Ruth, founded in 1976 and opened on November 21, 1977,Pawlyna, Andrea (January 1, 1978).A Refugee for Beaten Women. ''The Baltimore Sun''. p. TR1. is a non-profit organization that serves more than 600 women and children who are abused ...

Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyte ...

References

External links

Faculty page
at Pomona College
Research website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grigsby, Jill S. 1954 births Living people Pomona College faculty American sociologists American women sociologists American demographers Family sociologists People from Palm Beach County, Florida Brown University alumni Princeton University alumni People from Claremont, California 21st-century American women