J. Todd Ormsbee

Associate Professor of American Studies

San Jose State University

One Washington Square

San Jose, CA 95192-0092

408/924-4454

tormsbee@email.sjsu.edu

Education

Ph.D. in American Studies University of Kansas, 2004

Dissertation: Sexuality and Experience: Gay Male Publicity, Community, and

Meaning in 1960s San Francisco

M.A. in American Studies University of Kansas, 1998

Thesis: “There is Life Here for the People": Tradition, Orality, and the Sacred in Native

American Autobiography

B.A. in EnglishBrigham Young University, 1994

Professional Employment

Associate Professor of American Studies San Jose State University; San Jose, CA, 2011 to present

Assistant Professor of American StudiesSan Jose State University; San Jose, CA, 2005 to 2011

Adjunct to SociologySan Jose State University; San Jose CA, 2009 to present

Lecturer Department of Sociology, University of San Francisco; San Francisco, CA, 2004 to 2005

Lecturer Department of Sociology, San Francisco State University; San Francisco, CA, 2005

Lecturer American Studies Program, San Jose State University; San Jose, CA, 2005

Lecturer Department of History, San Francisco State University; San Francisco, CA, 2002 to 2003

Instructor Liberal Studies Department, Art Institute of California—San Francisco; San Francisco, CA, 2002 to 2005

Grants, Awards, and Honors

CSU Faculty Research Grant, Spring 2011 with Summer Stipend

Dean of Humanities Release for Research, Spring 2008

Norman R. Yetman Outstanding Dissertation in American Studies 2004 recipient

Current Scholarly, Research, and Teaching Interests

Social and Cultural Theory

Sociology and History of Sexuality

Comparative-Historical Sociology & Social History of the United States

Symbolic Interaction, Social Psychology, & Grounded Theory

Sociology of Religion

Mass and Popular Culture

Scholarship

Book

The Meaning of ‘Gay’: Interaction, Community and Publicity among Homosexual Men in 1960s San Francisco (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2010).

Articles

“Overcoming Domination through Self-Representation: Gay Men’s Experience in 1960s San Francisco” in Social Thought and Research 26:1 & 2 (2005)

Articles (in progress):

“Journey to Unbelief: A Theory of the Psycho-Social Process of Leaving a Tightly Scripted Religious Community”

                • interviews completed

• data coded

• first manuscript complete, available on request in early December

• out for peer review in early January

“Emotion, Interaction, and Leaving Mormonism”

                • interviews completed

                • data coding in process

                • manuscript available upon request in March 2012

                • out for peer-review in April 2012

New Scholarship

• Sabbatical year 2012-2013 to write a book manuscript that will seek to theorize sexuality from the American Pragmatic tradition. Full sabbatical proposal available upon request.

Encyclopedia Entries

“Queer Theory and American Studies” in Encyclopedia of American Studies, edited by Miles Orvell, http://eas-ref.press.jhu.edu/ (forthcoming January 2012).

“Scholarship and Academic Study, GLBTQ,” in The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture, edited by David Gerstner, (Routledge: New York, 2006).

“The Commodity” in American Material Culture: An Encyclopedia, eds. Miriam Forman-Brunell, Helen Sheumaker, and Shirley Wajda (New York: ABC-CLIO, 2002).

Book Reviews

Mark T. Decker and Michael Austin, editors, Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen. Reviewed for American Studies, Fall 2011.

Benjamin Shepard, Queer Political Performance and Protest: Play, Pleasure and Social Movement. Reviewed in Contemporary Sociology, October 2010.

Timothy Hodgdon, Manhood in the Age of Aquarius: Masculinity in Two Counter-Culture Commmunities. Reviewed in American Studies, Summer 2010

Eithne Lulbhéld and Lionel Cantú Jr, editors. Queer Migrations: Sexuality, U.S. Citizenship, and Border Crossings. Reviewed in American Studies, Summer 2006.

David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government.  Reviewed in American Studies, Fall 2004.

Nan A. Boyd, Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965.  Reviewed in Western Historical Quarterly, Summer 2004.

Papers Presented

“Withdrawal from Mormonism: Toward a Model of the Psycho-Social Processes of Leaving a Tightly Scripted Religious Community”

                  Midwest Sociological Society, St. Louis, MO, March 2011

 “Unbelief among Ex-Mormons: The Psycho-Social Process of Losing Belief in God”

                Pacific Sociological Association, Seattle, WA, March 2011

 “As Sexual Cultures Collide: Thinking about the Historical Transformations of Sexuality in the Age of Globalism”

Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, Palo Alto, CA, August 2006

 “Effective Freedom, Self-Realization, and Democratic Community”

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy [American Pragmatism],

March 2005

“Knowledge, Experience and Desire:  From Cultural Theory to Cultural Method”

American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA, August 2004

“‘For Those in Our Community’:  Discursive Strategies of Gay Male Community Building in The LCE News, 1961-2 San Francisco”

American Studies Association, Houston, TX, November 2002

“For the Eternal Plan of Happiness:  Mormonism, the Construction of the Eternal Family, and the Ex-Gay Movement”

Midwest Sociological Society, Chicago, IL, April 2000

“The Erotics of Family Values and the Formation of Ex-Gay Subjectivity”

Mid-America American Studies Association, Kansas City, MO, March 2000

“Disappearing Acts: American Studies, Sexual Discourse, and Queerness”

Mid-America American Studies Association, Iowa City, IA, March 1998                 

Teaching

Courses Taught (alphabetical)

American Civilization to 1865

American Civilization, 1865 to Present

American Dream [Self, Society, and Inequality]

America from the Outside [The U.S. and Globalization]

American Popular Culture

Consumerism and Mass Culture in the United States [Senior Seminar]

Crossing Borders: Explorations in Mexican America [Senior Seminar]

Cultural Studies

History of Sexuality in the United States

Introduction to Sociology

Nature and World Cultures

Religion and Political Controversy in the U.S.

Senior Research Seminar

Social Psychology

Social Theory

U.S. History, 1865 to present

Western Civilization I & II

World Conflict [sociology of globalization]

World History to 1500

World History, 1500 to present

Writing for the Humanities

Current Professional Memberships

Midwest Sociological Society

Pacific Sociological Association

American Sociological Association

University Service

General Education Assessment and Accreditation, Area-V (World Cultures) Committee, 2010

Acting Coordinator, American Studies Program, Department of Humanities, San Jose State University, Fall 2008

College Curriculum Committee, College of Humanities, San Jose State University, 2008-2009

Faculty Advisor, QTIP [gay and lesbian student group], San Jose State University, 2008-09, 2007-08, 2006-07

Department Curriculum Committee, Department of Humanities, San Jose State University, 2011-12, 2010-2011, 2009-10, 2007-08, 2006-07,  2005-06