Tobias, Sheila.

Feminist activist Sheila Tobias teaches politics and women's studies at the University of Arizona. A graduate of Radcliffe College, she earned her Ph.D. at Columbia University. She was a founding member of the National Organization for Women and one of the founders of the Women's Studies Program at Cornell University.

Sheila Tobias was one of the founders of the Women's Studies Program at Cornell.

Sheila Tobias was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 26, 1935. She received a B.A. in history and literature from Radcliffe College in 1957, and an M.A. and M. Phil. in history from Columbia University in 1961 and 1974, respectively. In 1970 she became associate provost at Wesleyan University, with responsibilities for academic policy, affirmative action, and women's studies. During this time, she became aware of students' fears of mathematics, and began her work on math anxiety, arguing that math avoidance results from lack of confidence rather than lack of ability. She also co-founded a "math clinic" to help students overcome their anxiety; additional clinics were developed at other universities. In 1978 she wrote "Overcoming Math Anxiety," in which she addressed gendered attitudes towards math, such as the belief that boys are more skilled at math than girls, and offered techniques for understanding and enjoying math. Other books built on this, as Tobias studied the ways in which math and science are taught and learned, and why the subjects are feared and avoided. In 1994 a new edition of "Overcoming Math Anxiety" was published, updated to include research showing the lack of actual knowledge of sex differences in brain organization and function.

Since 1978, Tobias worked as an educational consultant, engaging in a research and writing assignment for the Research Corporation, working for the Sloan Foundation in its development of the professional science master's degree, and conducting a long term association with the Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, among many other activities. In addition to demystifying math and science, Tobias wrote extensively on issues such as military spending and weaponry, and was a longtime active feminist. She was involved with Veteran Feminists of America, serving as executive vice president, and wrote a book about the feminist movement entitled "Faces of Feminism: An Activist's Reflections on the Women's Movement." She also taught courses on gender studies. Tobias moved to Tucson, Arizona, in 1982, and was married three times, most recently to Carl Tomizuka, whom she married in 1987, and with whom she co-wrote "Breaking the Science Barrier: How to Explore and Understand the Sciences."