Hidden Figures: Etta Zuber Falconer #BlackHERstoryMonth 14/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Etta Zuber Falconer #BlackHERstoryMonth 14/28

Etta Zuber Falconer (21 November 1933 – 19 September 2002) was an educator and mathematician the bulk of whose career was spent at Spelman College, where she eventually served as department head and associate provost. She was one of the earlier Black American women to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. Etta Zuber was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Walter A. Zuber, a physician, and Zadie L. Montgomery Zuber, a musician. The Zubers had two daughters, with Etta being the younger and Alice the older. Etta Falconer attended the Tupelo public school system, graduating from George Washington High School in 1949. At the age of 15 she entered Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in mathematics and minored in chemistry, graduating summa cum laude in 1953. While at Fisk, Falconer was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. Falconer began her teaching career in 1954 at Okolona Junior College, where she met and married Dolan Falconer, a basketball coach. They had three children – Dolan Falconer Jr., who became a nuclear engineer; Alice Falconer Wilson, a pediatrician; and Walter Zuber Falconer, a urologist. The couple's marriage lasted over 35 years, ended by Dolan's death. She remained at Okolona until 1963, when she accepted a position at Howard High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she taught the academic year 1963-64. When her husband was offered a coaching position at Morris Brown College in 1965, the family moved to Atlanta, also the site of Spelman College, an historically black women's college. Falconer's mother had studied at Spelman, and Falconer approached the head of the mathematics department, telling him that she wanted to teach there. She was appointed an instructor in 1965. Falconer advanced to associate professor, leaving Spelman in 1971 to join the mathematics department at Norfolk State University, where she taught for the academic year 1971-1972. Falconer returned to Spelman as professor of mathematics and head of the mathematics department. After the family move to Atlanta, she entered graduate school at Emory University. At Emory she earned a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1969, with a dissertation on abstract algebra. To assist in setting up a computer science department while mathematics department head at Spelman College, she returned to graduate school at Atlanta University, earning a Master of Science degree in computer science in 1982. Falconer devoted 37 years of her life to teaching mathematics and improving science education at Spelman College. In 1995, she stated: "My entire career has been devoted to increasing the number of African American women in mathematics and mathematics-related careers.” In 1995, Falconer was honored by the Association for Women in Mathematics, who awarded her the Louise Hay Award for outstanding achievements in mathematics education. In 2001, she received the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement. She is recognized by her peers in the profession as being one of the most influential and respected leaders in mathematics and science Education. #HiddenFigures #EttaZuberFalconer ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: Etta Zuber Falconer: https://www.maa.org/programs-and-communities/member-communities/maa-awards/lecture-awards/awm-maa-falconer-lectures/etta-zuber-falconer Etta Z. Falconer, pioneering Math Educator: https://aaregistry.org/story/etta-z-falconer-pioneering-math-educator/ ETTA ZUBER FALCONER (1933–2002): https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/falconer-etta-zuber-1933-2002/ Etta Falconer - Biographies of Women Mathematicians: https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/falconer.htm Etta Zuber Falconer: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Falconer.html Etta Zuber Falconer (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etta_Zuber_Falconer