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Priscilla Ransohoff

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Priscilla Ransohoff
A smiling middle-aged white woman wearing a suit
Priscilla B. Ransohoff, from a 1972 publication of the U.S. Army
Born
Mary Priscilla Burnett

June 16, 1912
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
DiedFebruary 1, 1992(1992-02-01) (aged 79)
Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, United States
OccupationEducation specialist
Known forNational president of Federally Employed Women (1972–1974)

Priscilla Burnett Johnston Ransohoff (June 16, 1912 – February 1, 1992) was an American military education specialist and advocate for women in science and federal employment. She was an education officer in the United States Army's Electronics Command, based in New Jersey, and the national president of Federally Employed Women (FEW) from 1972 to 1974.

Early life and education

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Mary Priscilla Burnett was born in Pittsburgh, the daughter of Levi Herr Burnett and Clara Amelia Brown Burnett. Her father was a steel company executive, and mayor of Sea Girt, New Jersey.[1][2] She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, and earned a master's degree and an Ed.D. from Columbia University, in educational administration and psychology.[3]

Career

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In the 1940s and 1950s, Burnett was supervisor of the physical therapy department at Monmouth Memorial Hospital, where her second husband was a surgeon.[1][4] She taught a course on human relations for nursing supervisors at Rutgers University in 1955.[5]

Ransohoff was an education officer with the United States Army's Electronics Command (ECOM) at Fort Monmouth, beginning in 1964. She became the ECOM coordinator for the Federal Woman's Program in 1968.[6] She was the fourth national president of Federally Employed Women (FEW), in office from 1972 to 1974,[3][7][8] and the first leader of that organization working outside of the Washington, D.C. area.[9] In 1975, she received the first Army Materiel Command Action Award and the Department of the Army's Equal Employment Opportunity Award, both recognizing her work on equality in the federal workplace.[10][11][12]

Ransohoff had a private consulting business, and taught at Brookdale Community College and Ocean County College.[3] She was the founder of the Monmouth Center for Vocational Rehabilitation, in Tinton Falls.[13][14] She served on the board of directors for the Easter Seal Society of New Jersey.[15] She was named Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women's Club of Monmouth County in 1976,[3] and given the same honor in 1984 and 1990 by the Zonta Club of Monmouth County.[10]

Personal life and legacy

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Burnett married twice. Her first husband was insurance agent James Hampton Johnston. They married in 1934[16] and had a daughter, also named Priscilla Burnett Johnston, born in 1936. Her second husband was orthopedic surgeon Nicholas S. Ransohoff; they married in 1947.[1] Her second husband died in 1951,[17][18] and she died in 1992, at the age of 79, at her home in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, where she had moved in 1960 after living in Long Branch, New Jersey.[13][19]

From 1992 to 2005, the CECOM Priscilla B. Ransohoff Memorial Award was awarded in her memory. She was posthumously inducted into the Army Materiel Command Hall of Fame in 2022.[11] “It is important to recognize Dr. Ransohoff for her pioneering efforts in fostering equality and diversity in the workforce, and her actions to encourage women to have a strong voice and role in the federal workforce,” commented military historian Susan Thompson of her induction.[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Dr. Ransohoff, Mrs. Johnston Are Married". Asbury Park Press. December 1, 1947. p. 8. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Obituary for Clara Brown Burnett". The Pittsburgh Press. June 12, 1954. p. 12. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d "Women in Army Science" Army Research & Development News Magazine 13(August 1972): 54.
  4. ^ "Red Cross Wins Plaudits of Dr. Priscilla Ransohoff". The Daily Record. November 29, 1954. p. 4. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Nursing Supervisors Complete Course Here". Press of Atlantic City. January 28, 1955. p. 2. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Dr. Ransohoff at Forefront of Women's Lib". The Daily Record. September 22, 1973. p. 3. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Love, Barbara J. (September 22, 2006). Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975. University of Illinois Press. p. 374. ISBN 978-0-252-03189-2.
  8. ^ "Federally Employed Women to Hear Bicentennial Leader". The Daily Register. January 24, 1974. p. 23. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "FEW History". Federally Employed Women. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Hawkins, Kari (September 9, 2022). "AMC to honor pioneer in women's advancement in the federal workforce". U.S. Army. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  11. ^ a b "AMC Hall of Fame Presentation to family of Dr. Priscilla Ransohoff". U.S. Army. December 8, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  12. ^ "Army Sets New Goals for Equal Opportunity". Army. 25: 45. August 1975.
  13. ^ a b "Dr. Priscilla Ransohoff, educator, humanitarian". Asbury Park Press. February 2, 1992. p. 22. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Three Named to Receive Angel Awards April 16". The Daily Register. March 17, 1985. p. 13. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "On Easter Seal Board". The Daily Register. February 13, 1969. p. 11. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Moyer, Adele (July 17, 1934). "Summer Home is Setting for Early August Wedding". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 18. Retrieved March 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Dr. N.S. Ransohoff, Surgeon, 55, Dead; Noted Orthopedist Perfected Polio Treatment--Consultant to Several Hospitals". The New York Times. April 26, 1951. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  18. ^ "General News". Physical Therapy. 31 (10): 443–447. October 1, 1951. doi:10.1093/ptj/31.10.443. ISSN 0031-9023.
  19. ^ "Priscilla B. Ransohoff (death notice)". Asbury Park Press. February 5, 1992. p. 9. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Former commander, three new AMC Hall of Famers honored". APG News. September 26, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
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