Jean Downey Amberson was born on 9 August 1893 in Waynesboro, Pa. She attended Wooster College in Ohio for two years before transferring to Columbia University, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1922 and master's degree in 1924. She received her doctorate in 1948 from the University of Chicago. Amberson was employed as a professor and Head of the Home Economics Department at Pennsylvania State University from 1924 to 1959. From 1956 to 1958 she worked in Formosa as a consultant to Taiwan Provincial University helping that institution expand its home economics teacher education program. After retiring as Professor Emerita of Home Economics Education in 1959, Amberson worked with the U.S. State Department in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos as part of the U.S Agency for International Development's regional education advisory team from 1960 to 1965. Dr. Amberson died at the age of 99 on 19 January 1993.
From the description of Jean Downey Amberson scrapbooks, 1956-1958. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 587614955
