Anne Anastasi: A Brief Biography

Anne Anastasi was born in New York City in 1908 to first generation immigrants. She was raised by her mother and grandmother after the unfortunate death of her father. Anne entered college at 15 and graduated with a doctorate at 21 from Columbia University, excelling despite the social-cultural difficulties of being a second generation immigrant. She also faced the difficulties of finding a job as a female psychologist during an economic crash. Anne’s first job was as an instructor at her undergraduate college, Barnard University, and despite the economic hardships she was able to begin research though government work programs that provided research assistants. Then in 1939 she accepted the position as psychology department chair at Queens