Shirley Thomas (1920 – July 21, 2005), also known as Shirley Thomas Perkins,Shirley Thomas Perkins, 85; USC Teacher Quit Career in Radio, TV to Write on Exploration of Space
/ref> was a radio/television actress/writer/producer, author, and professor in the

Master of Professional Writing Program A Master of Professional Writing Program is a type of graduate degree program in professional writing. Chatham University in Pennsylvania has an online MPW program. The University of Southern California's MPW program ended in May 2016, at which poin ...

at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. In 2010, The Aerospace Historical Society established the Shirley Thomas Academic Scholarship. It is "presented annually at the International von Kármán Wings Award banquet to a student in aerospace engineering or a related science that shows promise for continued future contributions to the field."Shirley Thomas Academic Scholarship
/ref>

Personal life

Thomas was born in Glendale, California, the daughter of an electrical engineer and a homemaker. She earned her B.A. in 1960 and her Ph.D. in communications in 1967 from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. She was also awarded a diploma by the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics in 1995. She died of cancer on July 21, 2005, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

.LASTC Obituary
/ref>

Career

Thomas' career spanned a number of disciplines, most notably entertainment and

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

Entertainment career

Active in Hollywood for a number of decades, Thomas conducted red carpet interviews at motion picture premiers and special event broadcasts from 1952 to 1956. She was also involved in the coverage of the New Year's Day Rose Parade for CBS and later did broadcasts for

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

Aerospace career

Thomas authored 15 books, including her eight-volume series on astronauts, ''Men of Space'' (published between 1960 and 1968). She also organized and chaired the Woman's Space Symposia from 1962 to 1973. In 1961, Thomas was the recipient of the

Air Force Association The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is ...

's Airpower Arts and Letters Award and, in 1991, she received the Aerospace Excellence Award from the California Museum Foundation. She was a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in the

British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. Str ...

and acted as a consultant for the

Stanford Research Institute SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...

(SRI) and

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

(JPL). Beginning in the 1970s, Thomas organized the

Theodore von Karman Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...

Stamp committee, succeeding in 1992 in getting a U.S. stamp issued in his honor. She also founded and chaired the Aerospace Historical Society, an organization that. since 1985, has presented the international Von Karman Wings award to outstanding and innovative contributors to the world of aerospace.

Technical writing

Thomas, an associate fellow and advocate for the national

Society for Technical Communication The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is a professional association dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of technical communication with more than 4,500 members in the United States, Canada, and the world. The society pu ...

(as well as the local Los Angeles chapter, LASTC) taught Technical and Fundamental Writing in the

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, Southern Cal or SoCal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1880 by Robert Maclay Widney, it is the oldest private research university in Califo ...

for more than three decades.Shirley Thomas Named STC Associate Fellow
/ref>

Works

*

' * ''Men of Space: Profiles of the Leaders in Space Research, Development, and Exploration'', vol. 1–8, (1960–1968). * ''Theodore von Kármán Memorial Seminar, 1965: Proceedings of the Seminar ... Held in Los Angeles 12 May 1965'' (1966). * ''Computers: Their History, Present Applications, and Future'' (1965). * ''Satellite Tracking Facilities'' (1963).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Shirley NASA people Technical communication 20th-century American non-fiction writers University of Southern California faculty 1920 births 2005 deaths Alumni of the University of Sussex Deaths from cancer in California Jet Propulsion Laboratory