Pascale Lane set the bar high with her incredible letter. I am grateful to her for her fantastic advice.
I am also really excited to share this next letter with you. I have written before about how my career path has been non-traditional and I think there is a lot of value in hearing about how successful female scientists (much more successful than me) got to the place they are. That is why it is my absolute pleasure to share with you this letter from Barbara E. Goodman, PhD.
Dr. Goodman is Professor of Physiology and Director of Special Programs and Science Education in the Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences at the University of South Dakota. Part of what I love about her and why she is one of my real life heroes is her commitment to quality science education. She is the associate editor of Advances in Physiology Education and an expert in epithelial permeability . A selected list of her publications can be found here. I think she's really an amazing woman.
Here is her letter:
A GIRL WHO CAN'T TYPE!?
I was planning on being a medical missionary from the time I was in third grade until I was a sophomore chemistry major at Duke University in the late 1960's. I vividly recall receiving a graded lengthy laboratory report from my Physical Chemistry class (that I had neatly printed) which had the above comment written on it. The reality of the situation was that it was true that after being too busy with real classes in high school to complete my personal typing class, I COULD NOT type (and still can't although I am pretty good at word-processing).
After graduating with my bachelor of arts in chemistry in 1972, I tried 9 times in 4 years to get into veterinary schools and eventually became a student at Auburn University taking pre-vet classes that were only offered there. It was so totally obvious that the women who were getting into vet school were a different breed of student than the men who were getting into vet school . The women were all very smart, drop- dead gorgeous, and wanted to work with thoroughbreds, while the men were good-ole boys who had grown up on a farm, were mediocre students, and wanted to be in private practice. Fortunately for me and my career plans, while I was at Auburn I took my first physiology courses and decided that what I really wanted to be when I grew up was a PHYSIOLOGIST not a practitioner!
Thus, I enrolled in the physiology PhD program at the University of Minnesota. My class in the graduate program had both men and women but many of the women dropped out by the time I was a senior (5th year) graduate student. I was pregnant during my final year in grad school and was a teaching assistant for an undergraduate physiology class where the students got to listen to the fetal vs. the maternal heart beat with me as the subject. I told everyone that as one of the few women grad students, I was NOT going to be pregnant every quarter so that students could have that experience regularly!
My husband, 5-month-old daughter, dog, cat, and I moved to California for my postdoc at UCLA. By this time, all of our family's moves had been first and foremost for MY CAREER but had turned out to also be good for my husband's career. He served as a house-husband and primary caretaker for our daughter while he was writing his dissertation in math until our daughter was 20-months-old. Then he got a job too, our daughter started day care, and we finally had enough income to invest in a home.
After completing my 6-year postdoc (during which time our son was born), I applied for faculty positions at medical schools and we both were offered positions at the University of South Dakota where we have been for 23 years. Our daughter is now a software engineer at Google and our son is in a PhD program in bioinformatics. My research has evolved from bench research in cell physiology to science education research but I am now a full professor and the director of a large NIH biomedical research infrastructure grant for South Dakota. I have been actively involved with the American Physiological Society and do lots of outreach activities with K-12 students and teachers about inquiry-based science and science careers.
Reflecting back on our moves and the evolution of my career, I can say that having a supportive spouse who was a willing co-parent and colleague has been the key to my success in my career. I only realized after about 6 months of marriage (now 37 years) that what I was and had always been was a FEMINIST. Fortunately for me as a smart girl, my family and my teachers never told me that I could not be who I wanted to be when I grew up.
Barb Goodman, Ph.D.
Comments
I loved this post. Thanks!
Posted by: Physiogroupie IV | May 4, 2009 8:20 PM
I'm glad to hear someone else who will describe herself as a FEMINIST. As Rebecca West said in 1913:
"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute."
I see younger women who preface statements with "I'm not a feminist" yet I know they are.
I guess it's just another lable we have to learn to live with. Feminism is NOT the F-word!
Posted by: Pascale | May 4, 2009 8:33 PM
hahah you're blog is awesome.
Posted by: andrew n | May 4, 2009 9:31 PM
This "Letters..." project is truly excellent. It's inspirational and, well, downright necessary - particularly for those of us who have not had supportive female mentors in our careers.
BIG thanks to all involved - Drs. Isis, Lane and Goodman. And to all those to come.
Posted by: stickypaws | May 4, 2009 11:01 PM
Echoing the comment above, the "Letters" series is really inspirational and provided me with a much needed boost. Personal experiences in my current position had soured me towards academia; hearing these stories made me want to keep trying.
Thank you!
Posted by: IndianPostDoc | May 5, 2009 12:44 AM
I'm a few years older than Dr. Goodman, and grew up between two sisters. Seeing what they had to deal with in the world of the '50s and '60s made me a feminist. I've always admired smart, capable women, and if their mental toughness is matched by the physical, I'm totally smitten. :: drifts off into reveries about a certain rock-climbing physicist ::
Posted by: Pieter B | May 5, 2009 3:17 AM
I agree totally with the statement about having a supportive spouse. It has made a world of difference to me.
Posted by: UnlikelyGrad | May 5, 2009 9:37 AM
I knew Barbara when I was a grad student at USD. The physiology dept. had 3 female faculty members who were "good people" and smart scientist (Barbara, Kathleen Eyster & Evelyn Schlenker). It was refreshing to interact with female scientists. The was the first opportunity during my 6 years of science education to interact with female professors who were respected in their fields.
Posted by: Susan | May 5, 2009 11:04 AM
Dear Isis:
I hope you will forgive a male scientist writing a “letter to our daughters” for your project. After reading the thoughtful comments of Pascal Lane (who I am proud to say has a joint appointment in my department) and Barb Goodman (who I have had the privilege of working with on the APS Council and who is an active supporter of the Nebraska Physiological Society) I felt compelled to provide, what I hope is a majority male perspective. What qualifies me to talk about women in science and women in general? Plenty; I am the product of the love and support of 5 beautiful women. I am the proud father of 3 loving daughters who have carved out careers for themselves in spite of me. I believe my career flourished because of the incredible love and support of the women around me; my mother, wife of 39 years and my daughters. It’s always the women that provide the insight, logic and intuition that it takes for their male companions to succeed. My mother instilled in me a sense that I could accomplish anything in spite of adversity and modest economic status. She gave me the confidence to preserver when I failed (a prerequisite to becoming a scientist). When I first got married, my wife was the breadwinner and supported us while I was in graduate school at New York Medical College. She believed in me and somehow (I don’t know how) knew that I would succeed. When I decided to move to Nebraska for a post-doc I know my mother was crushed, but she never tried to persuade me to stay in New York. When my daughters were born they were my inspiration and I knew the future was in them. Now that I have run a department for 20 years, worked in a scientific and administrative capacity with many female scientists and non-scientists, I have become totally gender blind and my respect for the way women deal with life in general and careers in particular (far superior to men) has grown over the years. Yes, there still is gender inequity but the women who have become successful, I believe do not focus on this aspect of their career. Scientists have passion for their work, for the questions and for the solutions, that’s our focus. Women and male scientists have this in common. We should promote and fight for gender equity but we shouldn’t let it consume us.
I believe that most academicians feel the way I do. For those who don’t I’m sorry they have not seen the light. We (men) should relish our professional and personal relationships with the women around us. Our society has produced too many examples of strong and successful women for this fact to be ignored or even minimized. The advice that I gave to my daughters was to work hard and stick to your ideals and everything will fall into place. It may not work out exactly as you wish but you will be a better person for it. The women in my professional and personal life have been my support system. I don’t believe I could have done it without them.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”. That’s the advice I would give to everyone. Believe in yourself. Thanks for this very worthwhile project.
Posted by: Irving H. Zucker | May 5, 2009 11:18 PM
BINGO!
Posted by: Comrade PhysioProf | May 6, 2009 6:56 AM
Good Stuff.. Doesn't This looks like an awesome place to begin your academic program! The True Blue Campus at St. Georges University.
http://www.sgu.edu/svm/doctor-veterinary.html
Posted by: John | May 6, 2009 3:36 PM
Thanks for this series, Dr I. It's a great idea and well executed to boot. There's nothing more compelling than people's stories, whatever direction they may take.
Posted by: Dr. Jekyll & Mrs. Hyde | May 7, 2009 12:23 AM