Celia Homans
Celia E. Homans died in Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009.
Background
Homans was born in Asheville, NC and received her undergraduate degree from Greensboro College before earning a Master of Arts from Northwestern University in 1953. In 1959 she married Peter Homans (1930-2009), Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Religious Studies in the Divinity School, University of Chicago.[1]
Career
Homans was a leader in social science research. She spent the majority of her career at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. She began her career with NORC as an interviewer in 1966, and by 1975 was Senior Survey Director. In 1980 Homans was named Associate Director for Survey Operations, a position she held until 1987. At NORC, she was project director or co-project director for a number of milestone studies, including Access to Home Medical Care, the Housing Allowance Supply Experiment, the Profile of American Youth: Development of National Norms for the Armed Forces Aptitude Battery, the Survey of Recent College Graduates and the Vietnam Veterans Study.
In 1987 Homans left NORC to head the Office of Government Relations at the University of Chicago, where she subsequently served as Secretary to the Board of Trustees, a role in which she was instrumental in the recruitment of the University President and in Board policy and operations. She went on to direct the Chicago office of Abt Associates.[2]
Salute to Harold Washington
On April 6, 1983, the Hyde Park Herald published an endorsement from the Hyde Park/Kenwood Citizens Committee of Democratic Party Chicago mayoral candidate Harold Washington. Signatories to the endorsement included Celia Homans.[3]