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IN MEMORIAM
CLARA MAY PARKER
Clara May Parker, professor emeritus
of curriculum and instruction, died on December 15, 1958. She was 79.
Professor Parker was born in 1879 in
Aubrey, Texas. She earned bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees
from The University of Texas at Austin in 1913, 1920, and 1930, respectively.
Professor Parker taught public school
in Graham and Wichita Falls. In 1919 she joined the faculty of the University,
becoming one of the first women to be hired by the College of Education.
She specialized in teacher education and served as acting chairman of
the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Professor Parker retired
in 1946.
She served as president of the Austin
branch of Delta Kappa Gamma, a women teachers' professional organization.
She was a founder of the Faculty Women's Club and the Austin branch
of the American Association of University Women, for which she served
as the first president. She was a member of the Modern Language Association,
the American Association of University Professors, the National Council
of Teachers of English, the Texas State Teachers Association, Phi Beta
Kappa, and Pi Lambda Theta.
In 1949 Professor Parker wrote a short
biography of UT Austin professor and suffragist Annie Webb Blanton,
the founder of Delta Kappa Gamma. The work was considered a "pioneering
effort" to record Blanton's accomplishments. In 1952 Professor Parker
helped compile Pioneer Women Teachers of Texas.
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
Biographical sketch prepared by Teresa Palomo Acosta
and posted on the Faculty Council web site on January 18, 2001.
Additional biographical sources can be found in the Barker Texas
History Center and the New
Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical A ssociation,
1996.
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