Position: Associate Professor
Department: College of Arts, Education, and Humanities
Phone: 610-282-1100, x2789
Office: 253 Dooling Hall
Dr. Katherine Grasso received her PhD from the University of California, Davis. Her research examines patterns in young people’s risky sexual behavior and explores how emphasizing safer sex communication can contribute to safer sex and more effective sexual education.
Dr. Grasso has a passion for experiential learning and regularly takes students’ learning out of the classroom. Locally, she has taken students to various academic conferences, local film screenings, the Northampton County Jail, and various places of worship (Lehigh Valley Friends Meeting, Congregation Brith Sholom, Hindu Temple Society, and Muslim Association of the Lehigh Valley). She has also led students on international travel to Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands, and India.
In 2023, she worked on Semester at Sea, a study abroad program that takes college students around the world on a ship. She co-taught a course entitled Global Studies to 500 students and led students on field classes in Malta, South Africa, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
In 2024, Dr. Grasso completed her MFA in Creative Writing at DeSales.
Selected Research and Creative Publications
Grasso, K. L. and Trumbull, L. (2023). Sexuality and Safer Sex Communication: What is Being Left Out of Sexuality Education in the United States? Sex education research: A look between the sheets.
Grasso, K. L., and Trumbull, L. (2021). Just Don’t Have Sex, Promise? The Influence of Comprehensive or Abstinence-Only Sexuality Education on Safer Sex Communication and Behavior. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 6(2), 257-281.
Grasso, K. L. (Forthcoming). A marital scattergories card. Stanchion Zine.
Grasso, K. L. (Forthcoming). The priest. The Cimarron Review.
Grasso, K. L. (April 2026). How girls are. The Adroit Journal. https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-fifty-seven/katherine-grasso
Grasso, K. L. (April 2023). The before. Pithead Chapel, Vol. 12, Issue 4. https://pitheadchapel.com/the-before/
Grasso, K. L. (Spring 2023). Wild punch. West Trade Review, Vol. 14.
Grasso, K. L. (August 2022). Up, up, up. Trampset.