Alta Schrock

{{Infobox person

| name = Alta Schrock

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Alta Elizabeth Schrock

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|04|03}}

| birth_place = Grantsville, Maryland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|11|07|1911|04|03}}

| death_place = Cumberland, Maryland

| other_names =

| occupation = Biologist and community activist

| alma_mater = University of Pittsburgh

}}

Alta Elizabeth Schrock (April 3, 1911 – November 7, 2001) was an American biology professor and community activist in Western Maryland who was the first Mennonite woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D.

Early life

Schrock was born on April 3, 1911, on Strawberry Hill Farm, near Grantsville, Maryland, the oldest of eight children.{{cite web |title=Dr. Alta Elizabeth Schrock |url=http://www.salisburypa.com/obitaltaschrock.html |website=Salisbury, Pennsylvania Historical Web Site |access-date=21 March 2019}}{{cite journal | vauthors=((Baldwin, F. D.)) | journal=Appalachia: Journal of the Appalachian Regional Commission | title=Always Two Dreams Ahead | volume=27 | issue=4 | pages=4–11 | publisher=Appalachian Regional Commission | date= Fall 1994}}

Education

In her childhood and teenage years, poor health prevented Alta Schrock from attending school. During this period, she studied plants in the woods on her own. When she was nearly fifteen, she returned to school to continue her formal education. She graduated from high school in Salisbury, Pennsylvania, and earned an associate degree in biology from Waynesburg College.{{cite news |title=Alta E. Schrock, 90, artisan village founder |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-11-10-0111100352-story.html |work=Baltimore Sun |date=November 10, 2001}} She did graduate work at the University of Cincinnati, Oberlin College and Kent State University, and received a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1944, the first Mennonite woman in America to receive her doctorate.{{cite news |last1=Lepley |first1=Sandra |title=Penn Alps started out with a simple dream 50 years ago |url=http://articles.dailyamerican.com/2009-06-29/entertainment/26292069_1_anniversary-dream-hostetler |work=Somerset Magazine |publisher=Daily American |date=June 29, 2009 |access-date=March 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321153708/http://articles.dailyamerican.com/2009-06-29/entertainment/26292069_1_anniversary-dream-hostetler |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |url-status=dead }}

File:Audubon Club, Goshen College (7650652148).jpg

Career

Schrock was on the faculty at American University (1944–46), Goshen College (1946-57), and Frostburg State University (1960–77). At Goshen, Schrock taught biology and was a faculty sponsor for the college's Audubon Society chapter.{{cite web |last1=Kauffman |first1=Jason |title=Biology for service: Archival traces of Mennonite environmentalist thought |url=http://mennoniteusa.org/archives-2/biology-service-archival-traces-mennonite-environmentalist-thought/ |website=Mennonite Church USA |date=December 21, 2016}}

In 1957, Schrock left her teaching position at Goshen College to return home to Western Maryland to found the Springs Historical Society, the Penn Alps Center, and the Spruce Forest Artisan Village, dedicated to preserving the heritage, folk art, and craft-work of the region. Schrock built Penn Alps into a tourist attraction, with an inn, restaurant, museum and craft shop where visitors could watch local artisans work and buy their products.{{cite news |last1=Deardorff |first1=Robert |title=JUST PLAIN FOLKS; Mountain Town in Western Maryland Is Showplace for Local Artisans |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/15/archives/just-plain-folks-mountain-town-in-western-maryland-is-showplace-for.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 15, 1964 |page=XX21 |quote=In an effort to help these people support themselves, and to keep their skills from dying out, a local woman, Dr. Alta Schrock, gave up a university teaching job a few years ago, went into the mountains to seek out the craftsmen and organized the Penn Alps center. This since has grown into one of the most unusual tourist attractions in Maryland.}} Penn Alps held an annual Summerfest, drawing about a thousand people a day by the 1980s.{{cite news |title=Crafts That Sustain A Mountain Way of Life |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/07/05/crafts-that-sustain-a-mountain-way-of-life/ec4e654e-8b7d-4f79-8da4-12a089effdc9/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 5, 1985}}

Recognition

Schrock was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1991.{{cite web |title=Alta Schrock, Ph.D. |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/schrock.html |website=Maryland Women's Hall of Fame |publisher=Maryland State Archives |date=2001}}

In 2007, the Maryland Historical Trust and the Maryland State Arts Council created a new award presented at the Maryland Traditions showcase, the Achievement in Living Traditions and Arts (ALTA) Award, named for Schrock.{{cite news |title=Maryland Traditions creates new award in honor of Penn Alps, Spruce Forest founder |url=https://www.times-news.com/maryland-traditions-creates-new-award-in-honor-of-penn-alps/article_9fe8215b-c19a-5cb8-9a10-89c5d2518c32.html |work=Cumberland Times-News |date=June 22, 2007 |quote="It is fitting that this new Maryland Traditions Award bears the name of Dr. Schrock, who worked tirelessly and creatively to find and sustain the folkways of her native Western Maryland," said Hannah Byron, assistant secretary for the Division of Tourism, Film and Arts at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. "This award recognizes those that are continuing to keep traditional arts alive in Maryland."}}