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Thelma Shoher Baker

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Thelma Shoher Baker
Born
Thelma Mary Shoher[1]

(1924-04-06)April 6, 1924
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJanuary 5, 2021(2021-01-05) (aged 96)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation(s)Educator, college professor
SpousePaul T. Baker

Thelma Shoher Baker (April 6, 1924 – January 5, 2021) was an American educator and anthropologist, on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University from the 1970s until her retirement in 1986.

Early life and education

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Shoher was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, the daughter of Jewish emigrants Abraham Shoher[2] and Tamara "Tillie" Kramer Shoher,[3] respectively from Odesa (now Ukraine) and Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia).[4] She graduated from Girls' Latin School in 1941. She attended the University of Miami, and completed undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of New Mexico in 1951.[5] After her children were born, she earned a master's degree in 1966,[6] and an EdD from the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), with a dissertation titled Environmental Education: A Multinational Study of Curriculum Innovation in Higher Education (1978).[7]

Career

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Shoher was an instructor[8][9] and research assistant,[10] and later an assistant professor of anthropology at Penn State, from the 1970s until her retirement in 1986. She edited a special issue of the Journal of General Education in 1977.[11] In 1985, she gave an invited lecture at the University of Hawai'i, on "Changing Attitudes Toward the Elderly: A Samoan Case Study", and consulted on anthropology projects of the Indian Statistical Institute's Anthropometry and Human Genetics Unit.[12] She and her husband did anthropological fieldwork in the Peruvian Andes[13] and American Samoa,[14] sometimes with their four children in tow.[15] In addition to her own research,[6] she co-authored work with her husband, and informally contributed to his career as a reader, editor, and social hostess.[15]

Personal life and death

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Thelma Shoher married biological anthropologist and World War II veteran Paul Thornell Baker in 1949. They had four children. Her husband died in 2007, after many years with Alzheimer's disease,[16][17] and Shoher died from COVID-19 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on January 5, 2021, at the age of 96.[5][15][18]

Publications

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  • The Urbanization of Man; A Social Science Perspective (edited collection, 1972)[19]
  • "Altitude, migration, and fertility in the Andes" (article, 1974, with Paul T. Baker and Andrew E. Abelson)[20]
  • "The Effects of High Altitude on Adolescent Growth in Southern Peruvian Amerindians" (article, 1977, with Paul T. Baker, Cynthia M. Beall, and Jere D. Haas)[21]
  • The Changing Samoans: Behavior and Health in Transition (1986, with Paul T. Baker and Joel M. Hanna)[22][23]

References

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  1. ^ Massachusetts, U.S., Birth Index, 1860–1970
  2. ^ "Obituary for Abraham Shoher (Aged 84)". Centre Daily Times. 1973-12-14. p. 19. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Obituary for Tamara Shoher". The Boston Globe. 1972-04-04. p. 41. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Massachusetts, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1798-1950
  5. ^ a b "Thelma S. Baker Obituary (1924 - 2021)". The News & Observer, via Legacy. January 13, 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  6. ^ a b "Woman Studies Marriage Customs of Peru Indians". The Daily News. 1966-10-05. p. 27. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Baker, Thelma Shoher (1978). Environmental Education: A Multi-national Study of Curriculum Innovation in Higher Education. Pennsylvania State University.
  8. ^ "Bakers to Speak at Luncheon". Centre Daily Times. 1974-02-13. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Collection of Readings Prepared". Centre Daily Times. 1972-11-16. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Studies in Peru Topic of Program". Centre Daily Times. 1966-01-24. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Baker, Thelma S. (1977). "Editorial Comment". The Journal of General Education. 29 (2): 79–80. ISSN 0021-3667. JSTOR 27796623.
  12. ^ "It's All Academic". Centre Daily Times. 1985-04-22. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Strange Growth Pattern is Noted for Peru Indians". Lebanon Daily News. 1967-04-17. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Changing Samoan society links obesity, stress". Centre Daily Times. 1987-01-16. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b c Thomas, R. Brooke (2021). "In memoriam: Thelma Shoher Baker (1924–2021)". American Journal of Human Biology. 33 (4): e23601. doi:10.1002/ajhb.23601. ISSN 1520-6300. PMID 34021665. S2CID 235094341.
  16. ^ Little, M. A. (2008). Obituaries: Paul Thornell Baker (1927-2007). American Anthropologist, 110(3), 398-400. via ProQuest
  17. ^ Garruto, R. M. (2007). "Paul Thornell Baker" Collegium Antropologicum, 31(4), 928–930.
  18. ^ "Obituary for Thelma Shoher Baker, 1924-2021 (Aged 93)". Centre Daily Times. 2021-01-13. pp. A4. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Baker, Thelma S. (1972). The urbanization of man: a social science perspective. Berkeley, Calif.: McCutchan Pub. Corp. ISBN 0-8211-0122-6. OCLC 695078.
  20. ^ Abelson, Andrew E.; Baker, Thelma S.; Baker, Paul T. (1974-03-01). "Altitude, migration, and fertility in the Andes". Social Biology. 21 (1): 12–27. doi:10.1080/19485565.1974.9988086. ISSN 0037-766X. PMID 4850490.
  21. ^ Beall, Cynthia M.; Baker, Paul T.; Baker, Thelma S.; Haas, Jere D. (1977). "The Effects of High Altitude on Adolescent Growth in Southern Peruvian Amerindians". Human Biology. 49 (2): 109–124. ISSN 0018-7143. JSTOR 41465087. PMID 889591.
  22. ^ Baker, Paul Thornell; Hanna, Joel M.; Baker, Thelma S. (1986). The Changing Samoans: Behavior and Health in Transition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504093-7.
  23. ^ "10-year study results in book about Samoans in transition". The Honolulu Advertiser. 1987-03-01. p. 152. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
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