Thelma Shoher Baker
Born
Thelma Marion Shoher

(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. She on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University from the 1970s until her retirement in 1986.

Early life and education

Shoher was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, the daughter of Abraham Shoher[1] and Tamara Kramer Shoher.[2] Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. 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.[3] After her children were born, she earned a master's degree in 1966,[4] 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).[5]

Career

Shoher was an instructor[6][7] and research assistant,[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] She and her husband did anthropological fieldwork in the Peruvian Andes[11] and American Samoa,[12] sometimes with their four children in tow.[13] In addition to her own research,[4] she co-authored work with her husband, and informally contributed to his career as a reader, editor, and social hostess.[13]

Personal life and death

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,[14][15] and Shoher died from COVID-19 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on January 5, 2021, at the age of 96.[3][13][16]

Publications

  • The Urbanization of Man; A Social Science Perspective (edited collection, 1972)[17]
  • "Altitude, migration, and fertility in the Andes" (article, 1974, with Paul T. Baker and Andrew E. Abelson)[18]
  • "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)[19]
  • The Changing Samoans: Behavior and Health in Transition (1986, with Paul T. Baker and Joel M. Hanna)[20][21]

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary for Abraham Shoher (Aged 84)". Centre Daily Times. 1973-12-14. p. 19. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Obituary for Tamara Shoher". The Boston Globe. 1972-04-04. p. 41. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 "Thelma S. Baker Obituary (1924 - 2021)". The News & Observer, via Legacy. January 13, 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  4. 1 2 "Woman Studies Marriage Customs of Peru Indians". The Daily News. 1966-10-05. p. 27. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Baker, Thelma Shoher (1978). Environmental Education: A Multi-national Study of Curriculum Innovation in Higher Education. Pennsylvania State University.
  6. ↑ "Bakers to Speak at Luncheon". Centre Daily Times. 1974-02-13. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Collection of Readings Prepared". Centre Daily Times. 1972-11-16. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Studies in Peru Topic of Program". Centre Daily Times. 1966-01-24. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Baker, Thelma S. (1977). "Editorial Comment". The Journal of General Education. 29 (2): 79–80. ISSN 0021-3667. JSTOR 27796623.
  10. ↑ "It's All Academic". Centre Daily Times. 1985-04-22. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Strange Growth Pattern is Noted for Peru Indians". Lebanon Daily News. 1967-04-17. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Changing Samoan society links obesity, stress". Centre Daily Times. 1987-01-16. p. 15. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. 1 2 3 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.
  14. ↑ Little, M. A. (2008). Obituaries: Paul Thornell Baker (1927-2007). American Anthropologist, 110(3), 398-400. via ProQuest
  15. ↑ Garruto, R. M. (2007). "Paul Thornell Baker" Collegium Antropologicum, 31(4), 928–930.
  16. ↑ "Obituary for Thelma Shoher Baker, 1924-2021 (Aged 93)". Centre Daily Times. 2021-01-13. pp. A4. Retrieved 2021-12-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ Baker, Thelma S. (1972). The urbanization of man: a social science perspective. Berkeley, Calif.: McCutchan Pub. Corp. ISBN 0-8211-0122-6. OCLC 695078.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ "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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