Mary Haas was born in Richmond, Indiana on January 12, 1910. This began the life of one of the most sought after and respected women in the field of linguistics. Her knowledge and passion to study and teach has had a lasting affect in anthropology world wide and especially on the campus of the University of California.
Mary Haas received her undergraduate degree from Earlham College near her home town. She continued her education at Yale University and in 1935 received her Ph.D. After receiving her Ph.D. she began researching the Indian language for the department of anthropology at Yale. Before World War II, Mary Haas began working to understand the Thai language. This enabled her to prepare and teach the armed forces heading over seas. Her first teaching assignment came in the form of teaching an Army Specialized Training Program within the campus of the University of California Berkeley. Mary Haas' work with the Thai language at the University of California Berkeley leads her to a permanent position as a professor of linguistics.
Her accomplishments were extraordinary at Berkeley. She became an associate professor in 1947 and continued until 1953. She then became a professor at Berkeley in 1953 and continued until 1957. She went on to become the chairman of the Anthropology Department at the University of California Berkeley from 1958-1964.
During her professional career Mary Haas received numerous honorary doctorates from such established universities as Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Earlham College, and Ohio State University.
Her Success did not end there. Mary Rosamond Haas served in many different societies. She became the president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1963.
The Language Lab at the University of California was established due in large part to Mary Haas. Mary Haas and Jesse Sawyer proposed the laboratory and then took the necessary steps to create the facility in the mid 1960's.
Mary Haas did not leave the linguistics world behind in her retirement. She was a visiting professor to many universities and colleges world wide. Her failing health in her last few years required that she slow down with her travels. She lived peacefully in her home in Berkeley where she died on May 17, 1996.
Even in her passing she still felt it important to give back to those institutions that she spent most of her life. She left her estate to Earlham College, Yale University as well as University of California Berkeley.
References:
“Biographical Memoirs.” National Academy of Science http://www.nap.edu/html/biomems/mhaas.html 14 Feb. 2003
“In Memoriam.” University of California Berkeley (1996) Added, http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb0z09n6nn&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00028&toc.depth=1&toc.id= (October 2006)
Written by: Michael Neveln