Taissa S. Hauser

Taissa S. "Tess" Hauser (February 14, 1942 – January 10, 2014) was an American sociologist and demographer. She was a Senior Scientist Emeritus in the College of Letters and Science/Sociology and the administrative director of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) of the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she worked from 1970 to 2011. Hauser was known for both her research work and mentoring in demography and quantitative sociology. she completed student field projects in folklore on the topics "From Folk Music to Progressive Jazz" and "Local Recipes for Meat Puddings" (1962).

She spent summers as an orchestral Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, a highly competitive program supported by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Between 1960 and 1963 she played both violin and viola at Tanglewood, performing with the Orchestra of the Berkshire Music Center.

By the time she married Robert M. Hauser on May 24, 1964., In 1967 she received a master's degree in Science from the University of Michigan Taissa, unable to find relevant employment, helped her husband with his statistical analyses and typed his 500-page dissertation. lasting over 60 years. It has enabled the Hausers and their many students and collaborators to examine a wide array of social and economic factors and study issues like social stratification, mobility, inequality, education, development and aging. She was primarily responsible for the tracing and interviewing of the 10,317 subjects in the project. In a history of the department, Tess Hauser is credited with "much of the success of the WLS research operation over a forty-year period".

Her contributions to methods of survey research included procedures for locating respondents in longitudinal studies. She designed and implemented specialized computer software to archive longitudinal data, and to store and analyze confidential data with high levels of security. Through the design of the WLS web site she supported dissemination of scientific publications, documentation and data, providing a variety of services including the ability to publicly share non-identifiable data.

Academic Staff Compensation In 1986–1987, the University of Wisconsin introduced a new Academic Staff Compensation Plan. Chancellor Donna Shalala asked the Hausers to assess the new compensation structure for Category A Academic Staff. They reported that there were pay inequities related to official titles and salaries that could not be explained by education, work experience, or free market factors. Women experienced a 13.7 percent deficit in salaries due to gender alone, and minorities experienced a 6.3 percent deficit due to minority status alone. As a result of the Hauser's 1989 report, the university took action. Tess Hauser served on the Committee of Experts that was established to implement recommendations addressing gender and racial inequities and improve conditions at the university. The college recognized her for both her scientific work and her work as a mentor, assisting undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, academic staff, and faculty in ways that reached far beyond the university.

Selected bibliography