H. Catherine Skinner, a longtime senior research scientist in the departments of Geology and Geophysics (now the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) who was a leading figure in the field of medical geology and a former head of Jonathan Edwards College, died on July 30 in Southbury, Connecticut. She was 94.
She was also an affiliate of the Department Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation at Yale School of Medicine and of the Yale Peabody Museum.
Skinner's research was in medical geology, a field which considers debilitation and disease that may arise from such geological factors as naturally occurring gases, minerals, and other elements. Her research publications included over 70 scientific papers and four books that she either wrote or edited. She was an elected fellow of the Geological Society of America and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
From 1977 to 1982, Skinner served as the Master (now Head) of Jonathan Edwards (JE) College, at a time when it was unusual for women to head a residential college. An avid proponent for the advancement of women in all fields, she took her place in a Council of Masters filled by prominent older men - and more than held her own.
In a 2007 oral interview, which is available in Yale's Manuscripts and Archives, Skinner reflects on the challenges of being a woman determined to pursue a scientific career in her field at a time when there were few women; the challenges she encountered in balancing career, marriage, and family; and her life as a college master, especially during the 1977 Yale strike, which required heads of colleges and their families take unusual responsibility for students in their colleges - sometimes even feeding them.
While head of JE, Skinner created a Professional Women's group which would go on to meet monthly for more than 40 years. She was a founding member of the Investors Strategy Institute (ISI), which aimed to educate women on growing and solidifying their financial futures. Among her other firsts, she was also the first female president of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, the third oldest learned society in the United States, which for the past 200 years has fulfilled its mission through lectures and extensive publications.
Penelope Laurans, senior advisor at the university and head of Jonathan Edwards from 2009 to 2016, described Skinner as "a caring support for all professional women" and "a particular help and support" to her as a woman who became head of college in 2009. W. Mark Saltzman, Sterling Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the current head of JE, remembered her as a "warm and influential member of the active JE fellowship, a prized and important member of the common room."
H. Catherine W. Skinner was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1931. She held a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, an M.A. from Radcliffe College, and a Ph.D. in mineralogy from the University of Adelaide, South Australia. Her research career, before Yale, included posts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Dental Research, a branch of the NIH.
Skinner's husband, Brian Skinner, the former Eugene Higgins Professor of Geology and Geophysics, died in 2019. She is survived by their three daughters, Adrienne Skinner, Stephanie Skinner, and Thalassa Skinner; four granddaughters, Catherine, Diane, Erica, and Alexandra; and two great-grandsons, Elijah and Henry.
Burial was private. A memorial service will be held in the fall in New Haven. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the B.J. and H.C.W. Skinner Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund, information for which can be viewed on the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences website.
