Dr. Catherine S. Fowler is a distinguished anthropologist and Professor Emerita at the University of Nevada, Reno, celebrated for her decades‑long work documenting and preserving the cultures, languages, and ecological knowledge of Native peoples of the Great Basin. Prior to earning her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, she joined UNR in 1964 and spent more than forty years becoming a leading authority on ethnobiology and Numic‑speaking communities, partnering closely with Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, and Shoshone peoples to illuminate Indigenous systems for classifying and stewarding plants, animals, and water sources across the semiarid West. Honored with UNR’s Outstanding Researcher of the Year award and later elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has also contributed her expertise to museums, tribal nations, and national organizations committed to cultural preservation and ethnographic records.
Dr. Catherine S. Fowler was interviewed by the Nevada Women’s History Project on December 9, 2025, in Reno, Nevada, through a grant from the Estelle J Kelsey Foundation.