Catherine S. Fowler Papers

Catherine S. "Kay" Fowler (1940- ), is an American anthropologist whose work has focused on ethnoecological (ethnobotanical, ethnozoological) fieldwork among Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, and Shoshone peoples of Nevada, Utah, and California. Fowler received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and began teaching at the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1964. She retired in 2007 and was awarded the status of Professor Emeritus.

During her many years as an anthropologist, Fowler focused on establishing 19th-century subsistence systems and indigenous interactions with the environment and resources, especially traditional resource management systems, of the Paiute and Shoshone peoples of the Great Basin through the integration of linguistic materials into her studies. Some of her linguistic focus has been on indigenous plant/animal taxonomies, place names, and stories that define Native environmental perceptions and cognition. She has consulted with tribes and indigenous organizations on land restoration issues, co-management of resources, and other environmental topics, as well as language and cultural retention while working toward the preservation of anthropological records and museum collections as repositories of information for indigenous peoples and the public in general.

Fowler has received multiple honors over the years, including the Outstanding Research Award from the University of Nevada, Reno, and was inducted to both the American Academy of Arts and Science and the National Academy of Sciences in 2011. In 2011, Fowler was one of three University of Nevada, Reno professors to have received a National Academies honor. Additionally, Folwer has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian; a research associate for the Nevada State Museum; a research associate for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where she participated in the Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records; and has served as president of the Society of Ethnobiology.

[Biographical information compiled from Fowler's listing on the National Academy of Sciences website and University of Nevada, Reno news releases, all accessed on August 12, 2021.]