In Memoriam: Ann Elizabeth Koch Schonberger, 1940-2022

Ann Schonberger, a former professor and retired director of the University of Maine Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies program, died late last month. She was 81 years old.

A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Dr. Schonberger was a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She earned a master’s degree at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University and obtained a doctorate in mathematics education from the University of Wisconsin.

Dr. Schonberger came to the University of Maine in 1971 with her husband Howard, who was appointed a professor of history. Ann Schonberger taught in University College before being named director of the Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies program in 1991.

A nationally recognized activist and women’s studies advocate, Dr. Schonberger was among the organizers of the First Maine Women’s Studies Conference in 1990, launching what would be an annual statewide event led by women scholars and gender equity advocates. She was among an interdisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students who, in 1992, formed the Feminist Oral History Project to document the early feminist movement. Dr. Schonberger also was one of the organizers of the Maine Women’s Studies Consortium — faculty, staff, and students who met over several decades and annually sponsored a women’s studies conference and research retreat.

Dr. Schonberger retired from the University of Maine in 2013. Three years later, she was inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame.