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Memorial for Dr. Gerbner: April 8

A memorial service for Dr. George Gerbner,  dean emeritus of the Annenberg School, will be held on Saturday, April 8 from 2-4 p.m. at the Harold Prince Theatre, Annenberg Center. A reception will follow at the Annenberg School. Dr. Gerbner served as the School’s dean from 1964-1989. He died December 24, 2005 at the age of 86 (Almanac January 10, 2006).

Please RSVP to gerbnermemorial@asc.upenn.edu or (215) 898-8016. For more information, visit the School’s website.

Dr. Miller, Population Studies Center

Dr. Ann R. Miller, professor emeritus of sociology and pioneer in the study of human migration and patterns of labor force participation, died February 28 at the age of 85.

She received her A.B. in sociology from Bryn Mawr College in 1943 and her Ph.D. from Penn, also in sociology, under the direction of Dorothy Thomas, in 1962. She worked in Penn’s Industrial Research Department during the 1940s and was a survey statistician at the U.S. Bureau of the Census in the early 1950s. She was a founding member of Penn’s Population Studies Center, where she spent most of her career. She joined the faculty in 1971 as associate professor and retired as professor in 1987. “Most of her career was spent at a time when it was very difficult for women to receive their due as full participants in science and the academy,” said Dr. Herbert Smith, director of the Population Studies Center.

Dr. Miller was part of the first generation of demographers who assembled and analyzed census data to undertake the first systematic study of internal migration within the U.S. “This work dovetailed with her interests in patterns and processes of labor force participation, and she was instrumental in linking changes in the structure of the U.S. economy to shifting patterns of both employment and migration. With Simon Kuznets, Richard Easterlin, and others, she wrote two of the landmark volumes in the study of Population Redistribution and Economic Growth in the United States: Population Data, 1870-1960. Among her many services to her profession and the common good was her chairmanship of the National Research Council (National Academy of Sciences) Committee on Occupational Classification and Analysis,” Dr. Smith added.

At the Population Studies Center, Dr. Miller was widely acknowledged for her intellectual rigor and resourceful efforts to foster the training and careers of graduate students. She was a remarkably successful editor of the academic journal, Demography, where she would sometimes write careful and insightful letters to authors that were nearly as long as the submitted manuscripts themselves. She was invariably kind and supportive to faculty, staff, and students and set a tone of collegiality that has been a hallmark of the Population Studies Center, according to Dr. Smith.

Dr. Miller is survived by her husband, Dr. Ervin Miller, associate professor emeritus of finance.

 

 

To Report A Death Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students, and other members of the University community. However, notices of alumni deaths should be directed to the Alumni Records Office at Room 545, Franklin Building, (215) 898-8136  or e-mail record@ben.dev.upenn.edu.

 

  Almanac, Vol. 52, No. 25, March 14, 2006

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