Monday, December 03, 2007

Because now 170 of us graduate annually

Today as I was walking into the building, I was looking at the majestic old pine trees and enormous magnolias and thinking about how this campus probably didn't look that different fifty years ago: the same brick buildings with tall white columns and the same flowing tide of undergraduates rushing to class. Then I realized one thing that would have been different: I wouldn't have been part of it. Fifty years ago it was almost unheard of for a woman to get a PhD in physics. (The best statistics I could find showed about 8 physics PhDs conferred to women in the entire country in 1958.) So, although I like to consider myself a fighter, that kind of battle would have done me in. I'm grateful to be living now, studying something that I (on alternate Tuesdays) enjoy.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are to be commended for being a true warrior - never having surrendered - and ultimately having triumphed.

alexis said...

it's good to appreciate the things we have, especially the ones we tend not to overlook.

And don't belittle your work - women are still scarce in the sciences!

stef said...

170 still doesn't seem like all that much to me.

Anonymous said...

yea for Rene Michelle

Pulisha said...

Incredible isn't it. And, I agree with Stef, 170 is still a very tiny number. We are so proud of your accomplishments!