Thyrsa Frazier Svager

Thyrsa Anne Frazier Svager (June 16, 1930 – July 23, 1999) was an American academic who was one of the first African-American woman to gain a PhD in mathematics.[1] Born in Ohio, she graduated from high school at the age of 16, going to Antioch College in Ohio and then doing her postgraduate degrees at Ohio State University.[2] Frazier Svager was the head of the Department of Mathematics at Central State University (CSU) in Ohio for decades, ending her academic career as provost and dean for academic affairs.[3] She and her husband, physics professor Aleksandar Svager, invested one of their salaries during their careers to build a legacy for scholarships.[4][5] After her death, the Thyrsa Frazier Svager Fund was established to provide scholarships for African-American women majoring in mathematics.[6]

Thyrsa Frazier Svager
Born
Thyrsa Anne Frazier

(1930-06-16)June 16, 1930
Wilberforce, Ohio
DiedJuly 23, 1999(1999-07-23) (aged 69)
Alma mater
Known for
  • One of the first African-American woman PhDs in mathematics
  • Scholarship fund for African-American women in mathematics
Scientific career
Fields
  • Mathematics
Institutions

Early life and education

Frazier Svager was born Thyrsa Anne Frazier on June 16, 1930 in Wilberforce, Ohio.[2] Her mother, Elizabeth Anne Frazier, taught speech at Central State University (CSU), a historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio.[3] Her father, G. Thurston Frazier, headed the Logistics Department at the Wright–Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.[3] He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, holding the position of Polemarch in the province.[3][7] Frazier Svager had three sisters, Gail, Constance and Jane, and a brother, William Lafayette.[3][2]

Frazier Svager graduated from Wilberforce University Preparatory Academy in Ohio at the age of 16 in 1947, as class valedictorian.[2][8] She attended Antioch College, a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, majoring in mathematics, with a minor in chemistry, and placed in the 99th percentile in the Princeton Senior Student Examination.[9] Frazier Svager was one of only four black students at Antioch: one of the others was Coretta Scott King, with whom she was friends.[8]

She gained a bachelor of arts degree from Antioch in 1951, going on to gain a master's (1952) and PhD from Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus in 1965, where Paul Reichelderfer was her doctoral advisor.[10][11] Her dissertation was titled "On the product of absolutely continuous transformations of measure spaces".[12]

Career

Frazier Svager worked for a year at Wright–Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, before teaching at Texas Southern University in Houston.[10] In 1954, she joined the faculty of CSU in Wilberforce.[10]

In 1967, Frazier Svager was appointed chairman of the department of mathematics.[13] She was awarded tenure in 1970.[14][10] She spent a summer in DC in 1966 as a systems analyst at NASA, as visiting faculty at MIT in 1969, and in 1985, she undertook postdoctoral study at OSU during the summer.[2] She was provost and vice president for academic affairs when she retired in 1993.[8][2] In March 1995, she returned for a short time to CSU as Interim President.[2]

Frazier Svager was active on the issue of scholarships, serving as the president of the local chapter of MOLES, a national association that provided scholarships for college students.[15] She was also a member of Beta Kappa Chi, the National Association of Mathematicians, and the Mathematical Association of America, and was involved with Jack and Jill of America.[15][2] Frazier Svager participated in the meeting that founded the National Association of Mathematics in 1969.[2]

She wrote two books, CSU's Modern Elementary Algebra Workbook (1969),[16] and Essential Mathematics for College Freshmen (1976).[17]

Personal life

While on the CSU faculty, Frazier met Aleksandar Svager, a Holocaust survivor from Yugoslavia and physics professor at CSU.[4][5] They married in June 1968 at her parents' home.[18]

Thyrsa Frazier Svager died on July 23, 1999.[19]

Philanthropy

Both university professors with a strong commitment to furthering education opportunities, the Svagers lived on one income, investing the other to build a scholarship fund.[5] After her death, her husband established the Thyrsa Frazier Svager Fund at the Dayton Foundation, for African-American women who major in mathematics at one of six universities, with a legacy contribution planned.[6][5] As of February 2017, 33 women had received support from the Fund.[5] An annual contribution is also being made to the American Physical Society's Minority Scholarship.[4]

Honors

Frazier Svager was honored with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by CSU on her retirement, and she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Greene County, Ohio.[2]

References
  1. Kenschaft, PD (October 1981). "Black women in mathematics in the United States". The American Mathematical Monthly. 88 (8): 592–604. doi:10.1080/00029890.1981.11995321. JSTOR 2320508.
  2. Houston, Johnny L (Summer 2000). "Spotlight on a mathematician: Thyrsa Anne Frazier Svager 1930–1999" (PDF). National Association of Mathematics Newsletter. xxxi (2): 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  3. Parks, Rena E. Lacey (2010). All the White Folks: A History of a People. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 1465328092. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  4. "APS Member Gives Minority Scholarship Fund a Boost". APS News (Vol 12 (2)). American Physical Society. February 2003. Archived from the original on May 6, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  5. "Thrysa Frazier Svager: One of Dayton's Hidden Figures". YouTube. The Dayton Foundation. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  6. "Thyrsa Frazier Svager Scholarship Fund". DaytonFoundation.AcademicWorks.com. The Dayton Foundation. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  7. "Receive key to city". Xenia Daily Gazette. July 2, 1965. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  8. "Thyrsa Frazier Svager". DaytonFoundation.AcademicWorks.com. The Dayton Foundation. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  9. "Miss Frazier receives PhD at Ohio State". Xenia Daily Gazette. September 10, 1965. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  10. Kenschaft, Patricia C. "Thyrsa Anne Frazier Svager". MAA.org. Mathematical Association of America. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  11. Thyrsa Frazier Svager at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  12. Frazier, Thyrsa Anne (1965). On the product of absolutely continuous transformations of measure spaces. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  13. "Several CSU department heads are changing". Xenia Daily Gazette (June 12, 1967). Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  14. "12 CSU faculty members promoted". Xenia Daily Gazette. July 22, 1970. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  15. "MOLES chapter headed by Thyrsa Svager". Xenia Daily Gazette. October 6, 1971. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  16. Central State University, Department of Mathematics. Modern elementary algebra workbook. Dubuque: W.C. Brown Book Co. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  17. Central State University, Department of Mathematics (August 25, 1976). Essential mathematics for College freshmen. Ohio: Kendall Hunt. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  18. "Marriage solemnized Sunday". Xenia Daily Gazette. June 19, 1968. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  19. "Black women in mathematics: Thyrsa Frazier Svager". Math.Buffalo.Edu. Buffalo University. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
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