Judith Shapiro facts for kids
Judith R. Shapiro was born on January 24, 1942. She is a well-known American anthropologist and a leader in education. She used to be the President of Barnard College, which is a special college for women that is part of Columbia University. Before leading Barnard, she taught about different cultures at Bryn Mawr College and The University of Chicago. From 2013 to 2018, she also served as the president of the Teagle Foundation, an organization that helps support education.
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Judith Shapiro's Early Life and Studies
Judith Shapiro grew up in New York City. She was the first president of Barnard College who went to public schools in New York. Her mother was a Latin teacher and a librarian. Judith went to Brandeis University in Massachusetts. She graduated with high honors, studying history and French.
In 1963, Judith started studying history at the University of California, Berkeley. But she soon realized that being a historian wasn't for her. She then discovered the writings of a French anthropologist named Claude Lévi-Strauss. This inspired her to change her path and study anthropology instead. She received a scholarship to study at Columbia University.
Exploring Cultures: Fieldwork and Research
As part of her studies, Judith Shapiro began doing "salvage ethnography." This was a movement in the 1960s to record and learn about cultures that people thought might disappear. She worked with the Northern Paiute people. They live in parts of California, Nevada, and Oregon.
Later, Shapiro traveled to Brazil to study indigenous groups there. She learned about the Tapirapé people and the lives of Yanomami women. Her research included visiting villages like Wkata?ut'eri and Surucucu.
She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University. Her main research focused on the roles of men and women among the Yanomami people in Brazil. She also wrote many articles about gender, social ideas, and how different cultures interact. Her experiences with the Yanomami women gave her new insights. These ideas were different from what another famous anthropologist, Napoleon Chagnon, had said about the tribe.
Teaching and Leadership Roles
Judith Shapiro started her teaching career in 1970 at the University of Chicago. She was the first woman to be appointed to their Anthropology Department. In 1975, she moved to Bryn Mawr College.
At Bryn Mawr, she became the head of the Anthropology Department. She also served as the Acting Dean of the Undergraduate College in 1985–1986. From 1986 to 1994, she was the Provost, which means she was the chief academic officer.
Leading Barnard College
In 1994, Judith Shapiro became the sixth president of Barnard College. As president, she was also an academic dean at Columbia University. She was also a professor of anthropology at Barnard. She retired from Barnard College on July 1, 2008. Debora L. Spar took over as the new president.
Awards and Recognition
Judith Shapiro has received many honors for her work. She was the President of the American Ethnological Society. She was also a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In December 2002, she received the Gold Medal Award from the National Institute of Social Sciences. This award recognized her leadership in higher education for women. In 2003, she was chosen to be a member of the American Philosophical Society. This is a very old and respected group in the United States.
After leaving Barnard, she became the president of the Teagle Foundation in New York City in 2013. She held this role for five years. The Teagle Foundation works to support and improve liberal arts education.
