Etta Zuber Falconer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Etta Zuber Falconer
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| Born | November 21, 1933  Tupelo |
| Died | 19 September 2002 Atlanta |
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Etta Zuber Falconer (born November 21, 1933 – died September 19, 2002) was an amazing educator and mathematician. She spent most of her career at Spelman College. There, she became a department head and later an associate provost. She was one of the first African-American women to earn a special advanced degree (called a Ph.D.) in mathematics.
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Etta's Family Life
Etta Zuber was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. Her father, Walter A. Zuber, was a doctor. Her mother, Zadie L. Montgomery Zuber, was a musician. Etta was the younger of two daughters. Her older sister was Alice.
While teaching at Okolona Junior College, Etta met Dolan Falconer. He was a basketball coach. They got married and had three children:
- Dolan Falconer Jr., who became a nuclear engineer.
- Alice Falconer Wilson, who became a pediatrician (a children's doctor).
- Walter Zuber Falconer, who became a urologist (a doctor specializing in the urinary system).
Etta and Dolan were married for over 35 years. Dolan passed away in 1990.
Etta's Journey in Education
Etta went to public schools in Tupelo, Mississippi. She graduated from Carver High School in 1949 when she was just 15 years old.
After high school, she went to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She studied mathematics and also chemistry. She graduated in 1953 with the highest honors (called summa cum laude). While at Fisk, she joined the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
She then went to the University of Wisconsin. There, she earned a Master of Science degree in mathematics in 1954. She decided to return to Mississippi to teach.
In 1965, after she was married and teaching at Spelman College, she went back to school. She studied at Emory University and earned her Ph.D. in mathematics in 1969. Her special area of study was abstract algebra, which is a type of advanced math.
Later, she also earned another Master of Science degree. This was in computer science from Atlanta University in 1982. She got this degree to help set up a computer science department at Spelman College.
Etta's Teaching Career
Etta Falconer started teaching in 1954 at Okolona College. She stayed there until 1963. Then, she taught at Howard High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee for one year.
In 1965, her family moved to Atlanta. Her husband got a coaching job at Morris Brown College. Atlanta was also home to Spelman College, which is a college mainly for African-American women. Etta's mother had also studied at Spelman.
Etta wanted to teach at Spelman. She became an instructor there in 1965. In 1969, she became the eleventh African-American woman to get a Ph.D. in mathematics. She became an associate professor at Spelman.
She left Spelman briefly in 1971 to teach at Norfolk State University. But she returned to Spelman in 1972. She became a professor of mathematics and the head of the math department. She held these important roles until 1985.
Etta Falconer dedicated 37 years to teaching math and improving science education at Spelman College. In 1995, she said her main goal was "increasing the number of African American women in mathematics and mathematics-related careers."
Awards and Special Recognition
Etta Falconer received many awards for her hard work:
- She won the UNCF Distinguished Faculty Award (1986–1987).
- She received the Spelman Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching (1988).
- She also got the Spelman Presidential Faculty Award for Distinguished Service (1994).
- In 1995, the Association for Women in Mathematics gave her the Louise Hay Award. This award is for great achievements in math education.
- She received QEM’s Giants in Science Award (1995).
- The University of Wisconsin-Madison gave her an honorary doctorate of science (1996).
- She was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1999.
- In 2001, she received the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Death
Etta Zuber Falconer passed away on September 18, 2002. She was 68 years old and died from pancreatic cancer in Atlanta, Georgia.
See also
In Spanish: Etta Zuber Falconer para niños
