Roberta Kevelson was a semiotician

Semiotics

Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...

 and an important authority on the pragmatism

Pragmatism

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice...

 theories of Charles Sanders Peirce. She was a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

 and The College of William & Mary, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. Among her published works are High Fives, The Inverted Pyramid, The Law as the System of Signs and, possibly her most significant work, Peirce and the Mark of the Gryphon. She was a founding member of the Semiotic Society of America

Semiotic Society of America

The Semiotic Society of America is an interdisciplinary professional association serving scholars from many disciplines with common interests in semiotics, the study of signs and sign-systems. It was founded in 1975 and includes members from the United States and Canada. Its official journal is The...

.

Kevelson was born in Fall River, Massachusetts

Fall River, Massachusetts

Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located about south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and west of New Bedford and south of Taunton. The city's population was 88,857 during the 2010 census, making it the tenth largest city in...

. Although married at 17, she returned to college in the 1960s and received her PhD

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in semiotics from Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 in 1978. During her postdoctoral tenure

Tenure

Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...

 at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 (1979-1981), she introduced the concept of legal semiotics. She subsequently established
an international crossdisciplanary center for its study in 1984.

Some works by Roberta Kevelson (from the Charles Sanders Peirce bibliography

Charles Sanders Peirce bibliography

This Charles Sanders Peirce bibliography consolidates numerous references to Charles Sanders Peirce's writings, including letters, manuscripts, publications, and Nachlass...

):

• Kevelson, Roberta (1986), Charles S. Peirce's Method of Methods, John Benjamins Publishing Co. (February 1986), 180 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-9027232892, ISBN 902723289X), JB catalog page.

• Kevelson, Roberta (1991), Peirce, Paradox, Praxis: The Image, the Conflict, and the Law, Publisher: Mouton De Gruyter, 413 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-3110123135, ISBN 3110123134).

• Kevelson, Roberta, ed. (1991), Peirce and Law: Issues in Pragmatism, Legal Realism, and Semiotics, Peter Lang Publishing Group, 225 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0-8204-1519-2), PLPG catalog page.

• Kevelson, Roberta (1993), Peirce's Esthetics of Freedom, Peter Lang Publishing Group, 360 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0-8204-1898-8), PLPG catalog page.

• Kevelson, Roberta (1996), Peirce, Science, Signs, Peter Lang Publishing Group, 206 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0-8204-3016-4), PLPG catalog page.

• Kevelson, Roberta (1998 April), Peirce's Pragmatism: The Medium as Method, Peter Lang Publishing Group, 204 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0-8204-3982-2), PLPG catalog page.

• Kevelson, Roberta, ed. (1998 October), Hi-Fives: A Trip to Semiotics, Peter Lang Publishing Group, 249 pages, paperback (ISBN 978-0820438429, ISBN 0820438421), PLPG catalog page.

• Kevelson, Roberta (ed.), Pencak, William (ed.), and Lindgren, J. Ralph (ed.) (1998), New Approaches to Semiotics and the Human Sciences: Essays in Honor of Roberta Kevelson, Peter Lang Publishing, 360 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0820438146, ISBN 0820438146) PLPG catalog page.

• Kevelson, Roberta (1999), Peirce and the Mark of the Gryphon, Palgrave, 239 pages, hardcover (ISBN 978-0312176945, ISBN 0312176945). Draws from unpublished Peirce manuscripts. On the Internet, the publisher is variously given as St. Martin's Press, Macmillan, and Palgrave, but anyway Palgrave has a catalog page for the book.