Titsa Panayota Papantoni *70

Titsa Papantoni, a pioneering female professor of electrical engineering, died July 8, 2016, at age 71.

Papantoni was born in Greece, and graduated with a diploma in electrical and mechanical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1968. She earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton in 1970, and in 1973 she earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California.

Over the next two decades, she was the first woman professor of engineering appointed by five universities: Rice (assistant professor from 1973 to 1977); University of Connecticut (associate professor in 1978 and full professor from 1983 to 1986); University of Virginia (professor from 1986 to 1993); University of Ottawa (endowed professor from 1993 to 1994); and the University of Alabama (endowed professor from 1994 to 2000).

She was also at Bell Labs from 1977 to 1978 and at the U.S. Office of Naval Research from 1981 to 1982. Her final post was at the University of Colorado at Denver as professor (and initially chair) in the electrical engineering department from 2000 to 2016. She was elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1991, and wrote two books and innumerable refereed papers. She was an enthusiastic and helpful adviser to her students.

Papantoni is survived by her daughter, Effie Kazakos; and her former husband, Demetrios A. Kazakos *70.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.