Teresa Cheeks, Master of Science in Materials Engineering 1982
Theresa Cheeks earned her masters degree at Rensselaer
in materials science and engineering. She later earned her Ph.D. at Cornell
University. In February 1991 she was named Most Promising Engineer during
the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
The award is given by the US Black Engineer
magazine in recognition of outstanding Black Americans in engineering and
science.
Carolyn Chin, Bachelor of Science in Management Engineering 1969
Ms.
Chin had an exceptional academic career at Rensselaer. She received
both General Mills and RPI Alumni scholarships, was on the Dean's
List, and was listed in Who's Who. She was involved in campus organizations
and activities, including the Transit, Campus Chest, Leadership Training Program,
Westminster Club, Freshman Orientation, and Student Council. Ms. Chin
served on the Grand Marshall Cabinet, and was the first female president of
the Independent Council. She was also the first woman to be elected to
Rensselaer's honorary societies Phanlanx and White Key.
After receiving an MBA from Harvard, Ms. Chin joined Macy's merchandizing staff. Five years later she became a marketing manager at AT&T, where she developed the popular Mickey Mouse phone and other consumer products. She was named New Jersey's "outstanding young woman" of 1977, and was cited by Glamour magazine as one of the ten "oustanding young working women in America" that year.
In 1978 she was selected as one of 15
White House Fellows, and spent a year working with HUD Secretary Patricia
Harris. Ms. Chin is currently Director of Strategic Development at
IBM.
Rose Dill, Master of Science in Chemistry 1967; Ph.D. in Urban and Environmental Studies 1983
Rose
Dill began her career as a research assistant in biochemistry, but eventually
left as she watched her male coworkers receive promotions that were not extended
to her. She pursued her graduate degrees at Rensselaer, which she found
"particularly supportive" of her. At Rensselaer she discovered the value
of mentoring and its relationship to a quality education.
In 1989 she was the deputy director of
the New York State Division for Women, where she developed programs for
child care and support, women affected by AIDS, disabled women, and victims
of sex discrimination. She was also an Adjunct Professor in Rensselaer's
Urban and Environmental Studies Program (Rensselaer, March 1989).
Ms. Dill is now the Executive Director of the New York State Citizens Advisory
Committee for Low-Level Radioactive Waste.
Nancy Deloye Fitzroy, Bachelor of Chemical Engineering 1949
Ms.
Fitzroy worked for General Electric in Schenectady from1950 until her retirement
in 1987, where she became Program Development Manager for the Turbine Marketing
and Projects Division.
She has earned many honors, including the
Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award (1972) and the Demers Medal for
outstanding service to RPI (1975). She received the Distinguished Service
Award in 1996 from the Rensselaer Alumni Association, was elected a Fellow of
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1978, and in 1985 she became the
first woman president of ASME. She also sponsored the Nancy Fitzroy Scholarship
Fund at Rensselaer to encourage young women to pursue careers in science and technology.
In 1999 Ms. Fitzroy's acomplishments were again recognized when she was inducted
into the Rensselaer
Alumni Hall of Fame.
In a 1985 article (Faculty/Alumni File), Ms.
Fitzroy said she never had the feeling of not being accepted (at RPI).
She also stated she would "love to be able to tell you that life was really
tough back then but if it was, I was having too good a time to notice."
Ms. Fitzroy's advice to future female engineers:
In 199l Ms. Graham returned to Rensselaer as
a distinguished speaker at the Panhellenic Association's 6th Annual Meeting
and Awards Tea. She shared her experience as one of the first women students
at Rensselaer, and discussed the challenges she faced upon entering the field
of engineering Catherine MacKay Hastings, Bachelor of Science
in Chemistry 1953
Miss Mackay was the recipient of an Atomic Energy
Commission Fellowship which enabled her to pursue graduate work at the University
of Rochester. She earned an Masters in Radiation Biology and Atomic Physics
after which she was employed by General Electric in Schenectady, New York.
In 1956 she decided "give up the professional
world and become a full time homemaker." According to Ms. Hastings, "life
was challenging with 9 moves and 5 daughters to raise. I have often credited
my rigorous training at RPI for having me well prepared." Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute
Dr. Jackson earned a Bachelor of Science in physics and a doctorate in theoretical
elementary particle physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She served as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1995-1999), professor
of physics at Rutgers University and consultant at Bell Laboratories (1991-1995),
researcher at Bell Laboratories (1976-1991), and she held research positions
at major research labs in the United States and Europe.,
President Jackson is a trustee of Georgetown University, Rockefeller University,
the Emma Willard School, the Pingry School, and is a life member of the M.I.T.
Corporation. She serves on several boards of directors and has received more
than 20 honorary degrees. She is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences and the American Physical Society, and is a member of the National
Academy of Engineering. Dr. Jackson was inducted into the National Women's Hall
of Fame (1998) and the Women in Technology International Foundation Hall of
Fame (2000). She was also named the 2001 Black Engineer of the Year by US Black
Engineer & Information Technology magazine. Roberta Kankus, Bachelor of Science in Nuclear
Engineering 1973
Sonja Krause, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry
1954
Professor Krause indicated that she came to
RPI because she was somewhat of a rebel and relished the challenge. She
was serious about her work as a chemist and did not want the trappings of a
traditional female education. She also remembers her experience at Rensselaer
as great fun, and has generously allowed the Archives to display her personal
photographs from her student years at RPI.
Nancy S. Mueller, Trustee
Ms. Mueller is a member of Rensselaer's Board
of Trustees, the George M. Low Society of the Patroons of Rensselaer, and
is chair of the School of Science Advisory Council. In 1999 she was named
Entrepreneur of
the Year for her business achievements. Jeanne Cassavant Pedersen, Bachelor of Science
in Physics 1953; Ph.D.
Dr. Pedersen's career has included work as
a staff scientist at Avco Corporation and teaching at Wilmington (Massachusetts)
High School. She is also president of Pedersen Inc. in Wilmington. Janet C. Rutledge, Bachelor of Science in
Electrical Engineering 1983
Dr. Rutledge has been actively involved in many
organization, including the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society
of Women Engineers, the Rensselaer Alumni Association, and currently serves
on RPI's Board of Trustees.
She encourages female and minority alumni to work with high school and pre-college
students to nurture their interest in science and technology. She has a patent
for an innovative hearing device based on digital speech processing. She is
a firm believer in mentor programs and knows that students need role models.
"It is very hard to do something if you can't picture yourself doing it, if
you can't imagine what that life is like." Vicki Seltzer, Bachelor of Science in Psychology
1969
Reva Servoss, Master of Science in Chemistry
1951; Ph.D. 1954
In 1942 she fled her native Belgium after the
Nazis invaded and took away her family. She avoided capture during the
war, and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Liege (Belgium)
in 1948. She then emigrated to the United States to study chemistry and
nuclear science at Rensselaer, where she met her husband, William C. Servoss
(Class of 1950).
According to Dr. Servoss, the most difficult
aspect of her life at Rensselaer was the social atmosphere. Her activities
were limited because the coeds were often excluded from campus events such as
dances, theater productions, etc. They lived in a small house off campus,
and were thus physically removed from the center of activity. She remembers
her teaching assignment as being particularly difficult; she was repeatedly
challenged or ignored by students who would not accept a female teaching assistant.
Nevertheless, Dr. Servoss remembers her experience
at Rensselaer in a positive light. She largely attributes her academic
success to her faculty advisor, Professor Herbert Clark, who offered her tremendous
support and encouragement. She values the education she received and states
that her social experience was excellent preparation for the difficulties she
faced when entering the professional world. Gertrude Berkmann Thun, Bachelor of Science
in Building Sciences 1967
Her professional work includes The Lawrence
Center Independence House in Schenectady, which is the first living and training
center for physically handicapped, mentally alert adults in New York.
The design provides for wheelchair bound, visually impaired, and hearing impaired
adults in a pilot program for affordable transitional housing. Construction
of the facility was completed in January 1985. Bonnie Wallace, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry
1973
"A young woman should not expect lots of glamour
and boys because that is not the way it is. I'm a hard working engineer,
but it took something silly like flying the helicopter to get invited to the
White House for tea." (They Led the Way, by Richard Schmelzer, 1980)
Lois Graham, Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering
1946
Lois
Graham was one of the first two female graduates of Rensselaer after she completed
an accelerated wartime program in 1946. She began her career in industry,
and later became the first woman in the country to receive a Ph.D. in Mechanical
Engineering (at the Illinois Institute of Technology). She subsequently
joined the faculty at Illinois as a professor of mechanical engineering.
She is currently Professor Emeritus at that institution (1991 Transit).
According
to a 1953 article in the Troy Record, "hers has been a college career of Firsts."
Miss MacKay was the first woman to be a member of a school athletic team (tennis),
the first woman to win the SAX Public Speaking Award, and the first woman to
be elected to a senior class office (vice president). She was featured
in a Collier's report on the plethora of professional opportunities awaiting
the Class of 1953.
In December 1998 the Rensselaer Board of Trustees unanimously selected
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson
as the 18th president of the Institute. When she assumed the presidency in July 1999,
Dr. Jackson initiated a campus wide planning process, resulting in the Rensselaer Plan
the following year. Under the plan the Institute's goal is "to achieve greater
prominence in the 21st century as a top-tier world-class technological research
university with global reach and global impact."
Roberta Kankus was the first woman to hold a
Senior Reactor Operator's license for a commercial nuclear power plant while
working at the Philadelphia Electric Company's Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
She is currently a Senior Strategic Planner at PECO.
Dr.
Krause is currently Professor of Chemistry at Rensselaer. As a student
she was a member of the Outing Club, American Chemical Society, and the Astrophysical
Society, for which she served as Secretary Treasurer and President.
Carmen Lucci, Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical
Engineering 1975
Ms.
Lucci was the first female ROTC cadet at Rensselaer, and was the only woman
in the nation to receive a full Air Force Scholarship according to a November
7, 1973 article from the Polytechnic.
At RPI she studied aeronautical engineering, and later enrolled in the Air Force
Test Pilot School in California. Ms. Lucci died in 1981 having attained
the rank of Captain.
Nancy
Mueller received her bachelor degree in chemistry from Russell Sage College
in 1965. She worked as a research chemist for Syntex Corporation, and
in 1977 founded Nancy's Specialty Foods, a frozen food manufacturing company
in Newark, California. The company has been used as a case study in the
New Enterprise Development Course at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Mueller also serves on the school's Advisory Council.
There were few female students and even fewer
services for them in 1949 when Jeanne Cassavant entered RPI as a freshman. Most
women lived in rented rooms in town, but Miss Cassavant started college life
in her family home in Troy. In 1951 she married fellow student Norman Pedersen
(RPI Class of 1953) and moved into Rensselaerwyck, a married student housing
community that was located east of the Fieldhouse. Mr.
and Mrs. Pedersen were featured on the cover of the July 1953 issue of Rensselaer
Alumni News when they became the Institute's first married couple to graduate
together. The Pedersens later returned to Rensselaer and received their doctorates
in physics in the 1960s.
Janet
Rutledge attended RPI on a full scholarship from AT&T Bell Laboratories
and received her Masters (1984) and Ph.D. (1990) degrees from Georgia Tech while
on a full fellowship from Bell Communications Research. She was on the
faculty at Northwestern University between 1990 to 1995 in the Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science Department, with an adjunct appointment in the Audiology
and Hearing Sciences Department. She has
been a research associate professor at University of Maryland Medical System
since September 1997. Now, she is a Program Director at National Science Foundation
in the Division of Engineering Education and Centers .
Dr.
Vicki Seltzer has served as Director of the Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology
at Queens Hospital; Associate Professor of ob/gyn at SUNY Stoneybrook; and surgeon
and Director of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
She published Every Woman's Guide to Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment
of Breast Cancer in 1987 as part of her campaign to educate the public on
breast cancer. She is also a president of The American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists. In addition to her professional commitments, Dr. Seltzer
and her husband, Richard Brach, are raising two children.
Reva
Gricener Servoss was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. at Rensselaer.
She chaired the Department of Chemistry at Rockhurst College in Kansas City,
Kansas.
Trudy
Thun is the President of Thun Associates Architects in Schenectady, New York.
She is also a past president of the Eastern New York Chapter of the American
Institute of Architects (1982).
After
graduating from Rensselaer, Bonnie Wallace earned a doctorate in molecular biophysics
and biochemistry at Yale in 1977. Professor Wallace left a position at
Columbia University in 1986 to join the Chemistry Department at Rensselaer,
where she was honored with a Fogarty Senior International Fellowship.
She currently lives in Great Britain and works in the Department of Crystallography
at Birkberg College in the University of London.
