Biography

Scott Gratson, Ph.D., Ph.D. (he/him), Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Klein College of Media andCommunication and Director of Communication Studies. In the latter position, in which he has served since 2004, he advises nearly 400 students, and helps to oversee Temple’s communication studies program in Tokyo and Kyoto. He originated the NYC Study Away program, which employs New York City as the backdrop of the classroom. He also created the NYC Pride experience, now expanding to include work in Washington D. C.. He has served in various capacities for NYC Pride since 2017, including Captain of Spectator Services, for which he was awarded Volunteer of the Year by Heritage of Pride in 2022. Gratson also works with Temple’s Trial Advocacy LLM program. He earned his first doctorate at the University of Denver while also working as a full-time debate coach and instructor at The Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Combining his love for New York City and history, Gratson volunteered as a docent and helped coordinate the College Outreach Program for the New-York Historical Society (NYHS), where he also served on the Friends of The NYHS Board. He was also archivist for the Hetrick-Martin Institute, the home of the Harvey Milk School and the nation’s oldest and largest LGBTQ educational services agency.

He was also a mentor with Point Foundation, the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization forLGBTQ students of merit. He has presented at dozens of professional conferences, campus and community events concerning aspects of LGBTQ history, identity, and mediated depictions. He has served as a reviewer for the LGBTQ studies division of the National Communication Association and been involved with numerous LGBTQ student-inclusion initiatives on several campuses.

In past years, Gratson has served as a two-time host to the 2,000-member National Parliamentary Debate Association conferences, as well as the National Forensics Association Conference, and has given and supervised well over two dozen regional academic and student-affairs oriented conferences. He serves as a consultant with Temple’s Queer Temple television program, as well as committees related to gender and inclusion of people with disabilities.

Gratson is the recipient of numerous outstanding teaching and service awards, including the 2010 Distinguished Alumnus award from his alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, and Temple University’s 2010 Faculty Advisor Award, and the University’s Stuaffer 2015 Award for dedication to service. His research interests include art history, advocacy and argumentation, LGBTQ+ identity studies, British history, and urban and rhetorical analysis. In spring 2011, Gratson returned to graduate school to obtain a second doctoral degree. A proud student in the Art History Department at Temple’s Tyler School of Art, he completed his doctoral coursework and dissertation in 2019 on cadaver tombs from the mid-15th to mid-16th centuries in the south of England and Germany.

With hopes of pursuing a third doctorate, Gratson is currently a student at Oxford University, having completed Certification in Higher Education, focusing on British social and national history, as well as an Advanced Diploma in Local History. He has also served in several committees at Oxford, Oxford including the Board of Studies for Oxford’s Department of Continuing Education. Currently, he is avidly studying Latin as he prepares for application to a Master of Studies and Doctor of Philosophy in the study of history through literature and art.

Gratson has been awarded multiple accolades through Temple Athletics for his dedication to teaching and is an avid supporter of Temple Crew, with which he was recognized with a boat naming in his and his family’s honor in 2023.

Courses Taught