Nina Jablonski (APS, 2009)

Nina Jablonski is Atherton Professor and Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology Emerita at Pennsylvania State University. She completed a BA at Bryn Mawr College with a major in biology in 1975, and completed a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Washington in 1981. Her research has focused on primate and human evolution, and in particular, on the role that changing environments have played in shaping the adaptations of primates and humans through time. The biological and social meaning of skin color has grown to be one of the main foci of her research, because of its many ramifications for human health and the quality of human interactions.

Oral History Highlights

What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to?

Well, as of five days ago, I'm officially retired, so I'm looking forward to not serving on committees that I don't really want to be on and devoting my remaining physical energy and intellectual effort to things that I really want to work on. And these include more books. I like writing books, I like learning. And so, I'm queuing up a long-awaited book on hair. People started asking me to write a book about hair almost as soon as the Skin book came out in 2006. And I was nearly ready in 2013 to write this book, but one thing after another came up and it didn't get written, but now I'm ready.  The hair book will get written.