Associate Professor, Sociology, Stella and Charles Guttman Community College, City University of New York
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Dr. Mary Gatta joined the faculty as an Associate Professor of Sociology at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College at CUNY in August, 2015. Prior to her appointment at CUNY, Mary served as a Senior Scholar at Wider Opportunities for Women in Washington DC, and as Director of Gender and Workforce Policy at the Center for Women and Work, and Assistant Professor of Labor Studies at Rutgers University. In addition, she recently served on New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's Labor and Workforce Development Transition Team

At Guttman, Mary teaches social science courses and served as the Faculty Coordinator of Ethnographies of Work, a key component of Guttman’s First Year Experience. The unique aspect of this course and her leadership role is ensuring that career education and information is embedded within the academic curriculum in order to better ensure student success at college and beyond. Students use ethnographic research methods and a social science framework to explore work and careers with a critical lens; along with mastering key job-readiness skills. She has published articles on this course and its impact on students’ learning and understanding of professional careers.

In addition, Mary has lead a series of evaluation of workforce and education programs including US Department of Labor programs, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development programs, along with various education and workforce programs.

Mary is a leader in research related to job quality, such as workplace flexibility for low-wage workers; workforce development programs and nontraditional job training for women. Her book Waiting on Retirement: Aging and Economic Insecurity in Low Wage Work, on the experiences of older low wage workers as they march toward a semblance of retirement, was released in October 2018 from Stanford University Press. Her latest book Gentrification Down the Shore (with Molly Makris) explores the connection between jobs, racial inequality and seasonal gentrification and the experiences of long time residents in this beach-community city of Asbury Park, NJ.

In addition, Mary has explored the experiences of women as they navigate One-Stop Career Centers, which led to Mary’s book, All I Want Is a Job! Unemployed Women Navigating the Public Workforce System. She is also the author of Not Just Getting By: The New Era of Flexible Workforce Development and Juggling Food and Feelings: Emotional Balance in the Workplace and is the editor of A US Skills System for the 21st Century: Innovations in Workforce Education and Development. In addition to books Mary has published numerous academic articles, policy papers and op-eds.