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Stanford Historical Society
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- Title:
- Nix, William D.
- Author:
- Nix, William D. and Hannigan, Anne
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- A native of California, William D. Nix, Lee Otterson Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, received his baccalaureate degree from San Jose State in Metallurgy and came to Stanford in 1959 for his doctoral work. He worked his way through Stanford while teaching at San Jose State. Strong growth in federally funded research resulted in several additional billets in Material Sciences and led to an invitation to join the Stanford faculty in 1963. Professor Nix was involved in the materials research at Stanford throughout his career and served in leadership roles at Stanford and in professional societies for more than forty years. In the interview, he describes his seminal contributions to understanding the mechanisms of high temperature deformation and fracture in the early part of his career and a transition over the last two decades to create of an entirely new field of materials science, specifically, thin-film mechanical behavior and scale effects in small volumes. Professor Nix is an award-winning teacher and researcher who has trained nearly 80 PhD students, an unusually large number of whom have remained in academia and hold leadership roles around the world in major research universities. In addition to describing his own work, Professor Nix discussed the early history of materials research at Stanford and the players who were formative in the field.
- Topic:
- William D. Nix, Stanford Historical Society, Oral histories, Interviews, Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Materials Science, Stanford University Center for Materials Research, and Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials
- Imprint:
- January 7, 2013
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Noddings, Nel.
- Author:
- Noddings, Nel and Rosenberg, Chelsea
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Nel Noddings, the Lee Jacks Professor Emerita of Education at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, is a philosopher and educational researcher best known for her ethics of care theory which she described in her 1984 book, Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Her care theory and educational philosophy is informed both by her graduate studies at Stanford in the 1970s and her long career, beginning in 1949, as a teacher and school administrator. She returned to Stanford as an associate professor in 1979 where, in addition to teaching and her research, she ran the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) and filled in as acting dean of the Graduate School of Education in the mid 1990s. In this interview she speaks about her professional and research career, set against the backdrop of her life as a wife and mother of ten during a time of tremendous cultural shifts in the country. Noddings begins the interview describing her working-class upbringing in New Jersey during the Great Depression and World War II. She confides that as a seven-year-old, she identified more with her school than home, despite being raised in a loving and safe environment. She reminisces about her elementary and high school experiences, the classes she took, the school culture, and uses her academic training to assess how progressive they really were. She contrasts the substance of her high school education with the redundancy in her undergraduate education at Montclair State Teachers College. Noddings describes her relationship with her husband, James Noddings, whom she met in high school, their courtship that began after they graduated, and early marriage after he returned from military service in Korea. She explains the ease with which they became parents and the reasons, after having three biological children, that they chose to adopt several Korean-American children. Noddings describes the educational and professional compromises she had to make because of motherhood and her husband’s profession. To balance this out, she shares several examples when her children participated in the educational programs she administered, as well as recollections of when the family moved so she could pursue her career goals. She spends some time describing her first teaching position in Woodbury, New Jersey, where she spent three years with the same class of middle school students, and how this unique experience profoundly shaped her thinking on teaching, educational administration and academic research. She gives the example of how later, during the civil rights movement, if a protest or other incident affected the lives of her student, she’d take time off from her math lesson plan to help them understand and process the events. Noddings explains how she initially approached her graduate school at Rutgers and Stanford as a means to advance as a school administrator. While she found pursuing math at Rutgers frustrating because of gender imbalances in the department, she describes her time at Stanford as transformative. Noddings explains why she switched from the educational administration track to philosophy of education after taking two philosophy courses. She notes how the learning and collaborative environment at Stanford supported her research and focus. She discusses her thesis on constructivism in education and how her care theory became entwined with feminist theory. She expands on education theory, her frustration with the current emphasis on standardized testing, the pros and cons of high concept-based math programs like “new math,” the difficulties of teaching atheism, and the benefits of a more holistic approach to education. Noddings describes the jobs she held after graduating: an academic position at Penn State, consulting in the Menlo Park area, and directing the Laboratory School at the University of Chicago. She explains how she landed the position of associate professor at Stanford running the STEP program in 1983 and later the Upward Bound summer program. She gives her impression of these programs and the changes they underwent. She describes her roles in Stanford’s administration: serving as the first female acting dean of the School of Education (now Graduate School of Education), working on Stanford’s Institutional Review Board for human subject research and serving on the faculty senate. It was in this last position that she argued for leniency towards a group of students who had barricaded themselves in the Dean’s office, an episode for which she explains her reasoning and results of her efforts. She describes her work after leaving Stanford, serving as president for the Philosophy of Education Society and chairing the ethics committee for the American Educational Research Association. She closes the interview by discussing her life after returning to the East Coast and the direction of her current research.
- Topic:
- Nel Noddigns, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, pioneering women, caring--moral and ethical aspects, education--philosophy, ethics of care, feminist ethics, Stanford University--Graduate School of Education, Stanford University--Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), teachers--training of, women college teachers, and women in higher education
- Imprint:
- May 3, 2016 - May 17, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Nogales, Luis G.
- Author:
- Nogales, Luis G.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society.
- Description:
- Luis G. Nogales relates his experience as a student and then a senior staff member at Stanford University from 1966 to 1972 when the university began to embrace racial and ethnic diversity. He begins by sharing his experiences growing up in a Mexican American family in San Joaquin Valley, California, and his experiences at San Diego State University. He then talks about how those experiences shaped him prior to coming to Stanford. He continues with his decision to attend Stanford Law School and the opportunities that afforded him to help recruit Mexican American students. While in law school, Nogales was active in various ways to recruit and bring together Mexican American students. After law school, he served as an Assistant to the President of Stanford University for Mexican American Affairs. He talks about his work with MASC (Mexican American Student Confederation) and MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán). He also describes his relationships with other organizations and other ethnic groups, particularly with African American student groups, not only at Stanford, but at other universities and colleges. He also mentions issues concerning worker’s rights and race relations within the Catholic Church and the Mormon Church at that time. Finally, he describes the differences between the early days of affirmative action and diversity at Stanford from how it is in more recent years. After leaving Stanford in 1972, Nogales continued to be involved with the university in various roles, including serving on the Board of Visitors of the Law School and the Board of Visitors of the Libraries. He was the Founding Chair of the Stanford Center for Public Service and a member of the Board of Trustees. In addition to these experiences, he talks about a recent class action lawsuit against Texaco and how things changed in the country over time regarding diversity and affirmative action.
- Topic:
- Luis G. Nogales, Stanford Historical Society, Oral histories, Interviews, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, Mexican American Student Confederation, Stanford Center for Public Service, and Stanford University. Board of Trustees.
- Imprint:
- January 29, 2010
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Olkin, Ingram.
- Author:
- Olkin, Ingram and Thomas, Odette
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In this interview, Professor Ingram Olkin, emeritus professor of education and of statistics, shares his experiences of growing up in New York, his interrupted undergraduate education at the City College of New York while enlisted in the Army Air Force during World War II, his marriage while in the service, his graduate school years at the Columbia University and his exhilarating PhD graduate school experiences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He describes how the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, under the tutelage of his professor, Harold Hoteling, was a fertile ground both for the development of multivariate statistics and for the inter-institutional and international collaborations that marked the rest of his career. After two assignments at Michigan State University and at the University of Minnesota, Ingram Olkin was recruited to Stanford with half time positions in the School of Education and the department of Statistics. He discusses his role in shaping both disciplines at a time when decisions were being made to turn both into world-class centers of excellence. He also shares his views on the hiring of women in mathematics and statistics, and the changing face of Stanford.
- Topic:
- Ingram Olkin, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, statistics, joint appointment, and multivariate analysis
- Imprint:
- July 8, 2014
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- O'Neill, Marshall D.
- Author:
- O'Neill, Marshall D. and Fetter, Alexander
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Marshall D. O’Neill worked at Stanford from 1952-1990 and was the Associate Director of the W.W. Hansen Laboratories. The award in his name allows faculty to honor staff for their administrative contributions to faculty research activities. He discusses the development and structure of independent laboratories at Stanford with all the attendant problem of establishing new management systems for these programs, including contracts, indirect cost recovery, and royalties. He was involved in the beginnings of SLAC, SSRL and worked closely with Robert Hofstader, Wolfgang P.F. “Pief” Panofsky, and William Fairbanks among other Stanford luminaries.
- Topic:
- Marshall D. O’Neill, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, W.W. Hansen Laboratories, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Imprint:
- February 10, 2014
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Osborne, Carol M.
- Author:
- Osborne, Carol M. and Fryberger, Betsy G.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In this oral history from 2016, Carol M. Osborne, former Assistant Director of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts (previously the Stanford Museum of Art), discusses her research on several significant publications about the history of the Museum and its key collections, as well as recounting the personal connections that fed her early interest in art. Raised in Great Neck, New York, Osborne attributes her earliest memories of art to her mother and their visits to museums in New York City. While studying at Barnard College, she recalls meeting Albert E. Elsen, who later became a professor of art history at Stanford, and describes his influence on her: taking her to New York galleries and to his class with Meyer Shapiro, a noted art historian, at Columbia University. Leaving Barnard to marry in her sophomore year, Osborne recalls becoming good friends with artist Mark Rothko and his wife when their babies played together in Central Park. She talks about following her husband to California when he got a faculty appointment at Pomona College and, after their divorce, commuting to UC Riverside, where she earned a bachelor and a master degrees in art history. She describes her work there with Professor Richard C. Carrott, who often invited students to his home in France and showed them nearby landmarks. Arriving at Stanford in 1975 to pursue a doctorate in art history, Osborne recalls being impressed by the department chair, Lorenz Eitner, who was also director of the Stanford Museum. She remarks on the clarity and enthusiasm of his seminars about the Museum’s drawings. Osborne also notes the helpfulness of staff at the Bibliotheque National in Paris, where she worked on her dissertation, Pierre Didot the Elder and French Book Illustration, 1789-1822. Eitner acquired Didot’s Virgil for the Museum’s collection, she says, and hired her as the Museum’s assistant director as soon as she completed her doctorate in 1979. Osborne describes how she began her research on Leland and Jane Stanford and the Museum’s history in the 1980s, culminating in Museum Builders in the West: The Stanfords as Collectors and Patrons of Art, 1870-1906. Osborne also discusses preparing a catalog of Mrs. Stanford’s collection of Murano glass, Venetian Glass of the 1890s: Salviati at Stanford University. Both publications are still in print. Osborne describes several other exhibitions and catalogs she helped to organize, including one on the drawing collection. While the 1906 earthquake had devastated the original Museum, leaving it in ruins for many years, Osborne remembers the day of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which closed the Museum for a decade. Osborne concludes by describing a gift to the Museum from M. J. and A. E. van Loben Sels, a major collection of drawings by American landscape architect William Trost Richards, which had been kept in a shack behind their house. She recalls preparing an exhibition and catalog of those works, with the support of new Museum director, Thomas K. Seligman, and she contrasts his leadership with that of Eitner.
- Topic:
- Carol Osborne, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, and universities and colleges--administration--art administration
- Imprint:
- December 8, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Packer, Nancy H.
- Author:
- Packer, Nancy H. and Marine-Street, Natalie
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Nancy Packer, the Melvin and Bill Lane Professor in the Humanities and Professor of English, Emeritus and a former member of the Faculty Senate, reflects on the career of her husband Herbert L. Packer, who proposed the idea of the Faculty Senate, comments on the campus climate in the 1960s and 1970s and briefly recounts her own experience as a member of the Faculty Senate. Packer begins the interview by recounting some details of her early life in Washington, DC as the daughter of a congressman and her courtship with Herb Packer. She speaks of Herb Packer’s career at the Stanford Law School and his intellectual contributions to a law faculty that had more courtroom or practical experience over scholarship. She remembers the great jurist Learned Hand and the judge for whom Herb Packer clerked, Thomas Walter Swan, as his sources of intellectual influence. Packer discusses political controversies Herb faced at the time of his appointment and the context of protests against the draft and the Vietnam War, which she believes provided the impetus for his writing the memo that laid the foundation for the Faculty Senate. Packer also emphasizes Herb’s contribution in reforming undergraduate education through the Study for Education at Stanford. Packer concludes with brief reminiscences of her own service on the Faculty Senate.
- Topic:
- Nancy Huddleston Packer, Stanford Historical Society, oral history, interviews, professors, Stanford University. Faculty Senate, Herbert L. Packer, Stanford University--Executive Committee, and Stanford University--Academic Council
- Imprint:
- May 16, 2017
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Packer, Nancy H. (2014)
- Author:
- Packer, Nancy H. and Tracy, Allison
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Nancy Packer begins her interview with references to her family and early years in Washington, DC. She credits her father with helping her develop an interest in politics. She talks about her undergraduate and graduate education as a time of maturing into a responsible student who studied theology as an intellectual pursuit rather than a religious one. Her early years as a writer were highlighted by a publication in Harper’s magazine. Arriving at Stanford, Packer characterizes herself as a newlywed who was somewhat adrift in the unfamiliar world of the university. She recalls her development as a writer by noting the influences that Wallace Stegner had on her career. She shares the struggles she had with procrastination, the processes involved in developing a short story, and her growing self-confidence. Packer also acknowledges that opportunities were extended to her as her husband, an attorney, went from being a faculty member in the law school to an administrator at Stanford. Packer describes her teaching career as being focused on the needs of students. In developing the freshman English composition course, she speaks of creating a class for the instructors of freshman English and her role in reducing class size. She also relates the history of the Creative Writing Program and her role in its development. Her publications range from books involving teaching to collections of short stories. Packer notes that her efforts to be a good citizen of the university resulted in her receiving all three awards the university bestows.
- Topic:
- Nancy Packer, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, Department of English, humanities, creative writing, teaching, literature, and pioneering women
- Imprint:
- November 5, 2014 - December 10, 2014
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Project:
- Pioneering Women
- Title:
- Parkinson, Bradford.
- Author:
- Parkinson, Bradford and Fetter, Alexander L.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- The interview begins with a discussion of Bradford Parkinson’s childhood in Madison, WI, followed by an education in Minneapolis after a family move. He recalls the influence of his father and the self-discipline learned at the Naval Academy. Parkinson tells of his move from the Navy to the Air Force, his time studying control theory and the maintenance of airborne electronics at MIT, where he forged a personal relationship with the inventor of inertial navigation system, Charles Stark “Doc” Draper. He talks about his decision to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, until a last minute “miracle” saw him heading for Stanford. Parkinson discusses his next move, heading to Edwards, CA to work as an academic instructor at an Air Force test pilot school. He recounts his move to the Air Academy and his research into inertial guidance systems. He goes into great depth on his time developing the digital fire control systems and flying the planes in North Vietnam. Parkinson then recalls his work at the Pentagon, working with Advanced Ballistic Reentry Systems in Los Angeles, and the joys of working again in research and development. He worked alongside the Army and the Navy on Operation 621B. Parkinson discusses the origins of GPS and his experience at the Department of Defense. Parkinson describes the latter years of his career, teaching at Colorado State and then working in corporations such as Rockwell and Intermetrics. He details his return to Stanford, first as a consultant–alongside his work at Intermetrics–on Gravity Probe B, and then as head of the project. Parkinson discuss his years at Stanford and the changes that have taken place throughout the decades, including gender equality in academia and multi-disciplinary teaching. He recalls fondly taking over at the Trimble Navigation project in its time of need, overseeing the assembly of a new executive team and the soaring of the company’s stock prices. As the interview draws to a close, Parkinson discusses his family and his passion for olive-growing.
- Topic:
- Bradford Parkinson, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, Global Positioning System, Inertial Guidance Systems, and Space Mechanics
- Imprint:
- May 12, 2015
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Perry, John R.
- Author:
- Perry, John R. and Marincovich, Michele
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In a 2016 oral history, John R. Perry, the Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, discusses his life and career before coming to Stanford, his research interests, and his experience as a faculty member and chair of the Stanford Department of Philosophy. He also provides details about the collaborations that led to the Symbolic Systems Program, the Center for the Study of Language and Information, and the Philosophy Talk radio program.
- Topic:
- John R. Perry, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, philosophers--interviews, Stanford University--Department of Philosophy, Center for the Study of Language and Information (U.S.), and Stanford University--Symbolic Systems Program
- Imprint:
- March 29, 2016 - April 7, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Perry, William J.
- Author:
- Perry, William James and Taubman, Philip
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- William J. Perry (BS 1949, MS 1950) is the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor Emeritus at Stanford. An expert on international security, arms control, and strategic defense, he served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense from February 1994 to January 1997. This oral history focuses largely on his early life, education, experience in the defense industry at Sylvania’s Electronic Defense Laboratory and at Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory, and his work at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Arms Control, now the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). In the first interview session, Perry talks about his family background and growing up in western Pennsylvania. Always displaying keen interest in the wider world, he recalls monitoring international affairs from a young age, especially the events of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the drama of British naval ships pursing the German Admiral Graf Spee. Perry describes meeting his future wife, Leonilla Mary Green, in high school and traces the path that led him to study engineering at Carnegie Tech and join the Army Corps of Engineers. Trained as a surveyor, he describes a mission in postwar Japan and the devastation he witnessed there. After his time in the army, Perry explains, he finished his undergraduate education in mathematics, transferring from Carnegie Tech to Stanford in his senior year and completing his master’s degree in mathematics with the help of the GI Bill. Perry recalls the professors in the Stanford Department of Mathematics, especially George Pólya who strongly influenced his way of dealing with problems and people. Life as a married student with a new baby, coursework, teaching responsibilities, and working for the Department of Electrical Engineering made for a circumscribed social life while at Stanford, explains Perry. With the goal of being a math professor, Perry decided to pursue a PhD, but financial considerations led him from Stanford to Penn State where he was also able to work as an instructor while completing coursework. Now the father of four young children, Perry describes “living close to the edge” financially during this busy time. To make ends meet, he took a half-time job at local defense contractor HRB, where John McLucas hired him to work on a new communications electronics system for the US Army Signal Corps. Perry concludes the first interview session by describing his decision to abandon his goal of becoming a math professor in order to pursue a career as an applied mathematician in the defense industry. In 1954, he accepted a job at Sylvania’s Electronic Defense Laboratory (EDL) in Mountain View, California, influenced greatly by its proximity to Stanford. Perry discusses his work at EDL on electronic countermeasures directed against Soviet missiles, especially ICBMs. In the second interview session, Perry discusses how he and colleagues from Sylvania founded the Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory (ESL), a defense contractor that pioneered the use of digital technology. Perry describes the nature of ESL’s work for the government, the importance of the company’s proximity to semiconductor manufacturers such as Fairchild, and the unique spirit of Stanford and the Silicon Valley--“the idea that anything’s possible and you should try to do it.” The story of how he and colleague Lou Franklin used the Stanford radio telescope (aka the Stanford Dish) to gain information about a Soviet radar system is a highlight here. He describes the difficult decision to move to Washington DC to become under secretary of defense in the Carter administration, charged with introducing digital technology to the Defense Department. He describes elements of this “Offset Strategy” and ruminates on the liabilities that can accompany leadership in both industry and military realms. Returning from Washington in 1981, Perry narrates his foray into the venture capital arena, and the invitation to come back to Stanford as co-director of CISAC and professor in Engineering-Economic Systems. Perry describes CISAC’s role in developing dialogues with China and the Soviet Union, advising Russia and Eastern European countries on defense plant conversion, and helping the United States to develop a program to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction. Perry also shares his thoughts about the importance of institutes and centers such as CISAC. In the third interview session, Perry describes the sequence of events that led to him become deputy secretary and then secretary of defense, elaborates on his work with CISAC, and discusses teaching at Stanford. Perry speaks about his involvement with Professor John Lewis and CISAC during the center’s early days and describes Galvez House, CISAC’s first home on campus. He recalls his work with Wolfgang Panofsky and Sidney Drell on arms control and discusses some of the consequences of SALT I and his argument against the Reagan administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative. He recalls Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Stanford, describes his work on Russia with Ash Carter of Harvard, and speaks about using track II diplomacy to pursue issues he had begun working on in Washington. Perry also describes a challenging assignment he received upon his return to Stanford at the behest of the dean of the School of Engineering, John Hennessy--combining three departments in the School of Engineering into one functioning unit. Perry offers his views of Hennessy as dean and then as Stanford president and describes the unpublished manuscript they co-authored forecasting the state of technology in 2000. The interview concludes with Perry describing his work on the William J. Perry Project, which includes a book, YouTube videos, and an online course designed to inform audiences about nuclear weapons in today’s world and dramatize the ways that a nuclear war might start.
- Topic:
- William J. Perry, Stanford University--Center for International Security and Arms Control, Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory, Electronic Defense Laboratory, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, and professors
- Imprint:
- May 20, 2016 - July 29, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Peters, P. Stanley.
- Author:
- Peters, P. Stanley and Tobey, Karen
- Description:
- P. Stanley Peters, Director Emeritus of the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI) and a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, is known for his work in the logical analysis of meaning in natural languages and computational linguistics. In the first interview, Peters discusses his career trajectory beginning with his undergraduate studies in mathematics and his graduate study of linguistics with Noam Chomsky at MIT. He reflects upon his path to becoming a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and describes how his mathematical background allowed him to create a more scientific approach to research in linguistics. He describes a formative time at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and recounts his decision to move to Stanford after a term as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences where he made fruitful connections that ultimately resulted in the formation of CSLI. Peters discusses the growth of the Department of Linguistics at Stanford and his time as chair of the department and comments on Stanford’s approach to its faculty and students, its willingness to engage with industry, and the support the university gives to interdisciplinary research. He explains some of his research contributions including work on presupposition, quantifiers, and the formal properties of Chomsky’s transformational grammars. He also discusses his research on electronic tutors, or computers than can converse with humans, including work with the Office of Naval Research to develop electronic tutors that could teach ship handling. He converses about developments in machine learning that have led to programs such as Google Translate and Siri. In the second interview, Professor Peters elaborates on the evolution and impact of CSLI, and discusses the creation of the interdisciplinary Symbolic Systems major at Stanford, which has become popular with students interested in the intersections of cognitive science, computer technology, math, and linguistics. He also discusses his work on the Committee for Technology and Learning, which the university convened to develop Stanford’s strategy for online learning. He talks about his family, his love of music and playing the organ, and his hobby of aerobatic flying, which he began to learn in his forties when he got his pilot’s license. He concludes the interview by offering advice to young people who are just beginning their careers, espousing the value of a liberal arts education rather than a strictly defined career goal at too early an age. He talks about the importance of teamwork, flexibility, doing something one loves, and having broad rather than narrowly focused interests.
- Topic:
- P. Stanley Peters, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Stanford University--Department of Linguistics, Stanford University--Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University--Symbolic Systems Program, semantics, semantics--mathematical models, computational linguistics, linguists--interviews, linguistics--history--20th century, interdisciplinary research, System Development Foundation (Palo Alto, and Calif.)
- Imprint:
- December 3, 2015 - January 11, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Pizzo, Philip A.
- Author:
- Pizzo, Philip A. and DiPaolo, Andy
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In his 2016 oral history, Philip A. Pizzo, MD, former dean of Stanford’s School of Medicine, describes the long career in pediatrics and AIDS treatment that led him to California in 2001 and his mission to reinvigorate the university’s medical establishment. Pizzo begins his narrative in New York City, where he was the first in his working-class family to graduate from high school. Like many first-generation Americans, Pizzo says, his family encouraged him to become a doctor and to “become something.” His reading, especially the book Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif and biographies of great scientists and thinkers, also drew him to the field of medicine, as did the historical context of the Vietnam War. Recounting the challenges and contributions of his years at Fordham University, the University of Rochester Medical School, and the elite Boston Children’s Hospital, Pizzo outlines how his career embraced both research and clinical practice in pediatric oncology and infectious disease. Pizzo describes receiving a summons to join the National Institutes of Health in 1973 and devotes considerable attention to his two decades there and especially to the young patients who influenced the direction of his research. First came ten-year-old Ted DeVita, who was confined to an isolation room because of a severely compromised immune system. That relationship, Pizzo points out, prepared him for the challenges of HIV and AIDS. By then the NIH chief of pediatrics, Pizzo explains that research in pediatric AIDS led to the development of continuous infusion therapy, which “made a pretty big splash” at the International AIDS Meeting in Stockholm in 1988. His growing reputation drew Elizabeth Glaser to Pizzo and NIH. He describes treating her two AIDS-infected children, as well as collaboration with Elizabeth and his admiration for her work as founder of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Seeking a new direction for his career as he turned 50, Pizzo discusses his brief return to Boston Children’s Hospital before Stanford made an irresistible offer in 2000. Pizzo recalls the long deliberative process that resulted in his acceptance of the job as dean of the School of Medicine. The school and the two hospitals were experiencing considerable divisiveness at the time because of the failed merger with the University of California, San Francisco. Healing the wounds of that venture is what Pizzo sees as his first major challenge at Stanford, and he identifies the faculty’s revolt against the UCSF project as the most important element in its failure. He recounts in detail the issues involved in reconciling the School’s academic and clinical perspectives and his successful efforts to rebuild faculty morale and create an agenda to focus their energy toward the future. Pizzo also discusses outreach to the other academic schools at Stanford, resulting in the founding of the Department of Bioengineering. He describes initiatives that brought needed resources to the medical facilities and revitalized the way they worked together, including the beginning of the institutes, diversity initiatives, and fundraising programs. Pizzo declares himself proud of the community that now exists in Stanford’s medical establishment, the care it provides to patients, and the national recognition it has achieved.
- Topic:
- Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Philip A. Pizzo, AIDS (Disease)--in children, AIDS (Disease)--treatment of, aplastic anemia, Children’s Hospital Boston, Vincent Theodore DeVita, Jr., Elizabeth Glaser, medical education--United States, National Institutes of Health (U.S), Stanford University--School of Medicine--administration, Stanford University--School of Medicine--failed merger of patient care with UCSF, and UCSF Stanford Health Care
- Imprint:
- July 1, 2016 - December 13, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Planting, John.
- Author:
- Planting, John and Humburg, Judee
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In his first interview, John Planting discusses his arrival at Stanford as a student in 1948, his role as an assistant in the newly established music department, and his subsequent responsibilities as the department administrator in 1957 - 1996. He addresses the changes in the music department during his years at Stanford through his retirement from the department. He talks about how he provided administrative and logistical support for numerous performances over the years, often moving equipment and instruments himself from storage areas to concert locations. Planting reminisces about music department directors, professors, teachers, conductors, and concert performers, including Jan Popper, Leonard Ratner, Sandor Salgo, Loran Crosten, Albert Cohen and Wolfgang Kuhn. He also shares memories of places such as Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Braun Music Center, Cubberley Auditorium, The Knoll, and Memorial Auditorium. Planting talks about the relationships between the music department and other parts of the university, such as the School of Education and the School of Humanities and Sciences. He describes the development of the degree programs such as the D.M.A. (Doctor of Musical Arts). Other topics covered include visiting artists, Friends of Music, Committee on Public Exercises, Stanford Lively Arts and ASSU (Associated Students of Stanford University). He also talks about turning points in the history of the department: the establishment of the music department, having their own building (Dinkelspiel), and the effects of the BAP (Budget Adjustment Program) in the 1980s. Throughout, he discusses the issues between musicology (theory) and performance (conservatory) and how his expertise was utilized in the planning of both Dinkelspiel Auditorium and Braun Music Center. John Planting’s second interview follows up on several topics discussed in the first interview. He describes the contributions of Wolfgang Kuhn in two areas: degree programs (M.A. plus Teaching Credential; D.M.A. plus Ed.D.) and community outreach (contacts with schools and the Summer Youth Orchestra). He continues with several other topics, including Woodpecker Lodge, Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Music Educators National Conference (significance to Stanford), and the Stanford jazz program.
- Topic:
- John Planting, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, and music education
- Imprint:
- October 19, 2012 - May 3, 2013
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Poras, Jerry I.
- Author:
- Poras, Jerry I.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society.
- Description:
- This interview with Professor Jerry I. Porras is part of the Oral History Project on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. Professor Porras discussed what happened in Stanford's history to initiate and then to shape the increase in diversity at the university from the 1960s to the present. He began by recounting his youth in El Paso and continued by describing the scholastic and professional trajectory that led him to Stanford. Porras discussed both the admirable and less-than-admirable aspects of the University’s record of diversity outreach. Most of the conversation about diversity issues focused on people -- undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty -- of Chicano and Latino descent. One idea that emerges is that the character of diversity outreach at Stanford has evolved over time. This interview offers an enlightening window on that evolution.
- Topic:
- Jerry I. Porras, Stanford Historical Society, Oral histories, Interviews, and Diversity
- Imprint:
- October 4, 2011
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Porras, Jerry I. (2016)
- Author:
- Porras, Jerry I.
- Corporate Author:
- Player, Stephen and Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In this interview, Jerry I. Porras, an emeritus professor in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a faculty athletics representative (FAR) under three different athletic directors, describes the duties he performed as the faculty athletics representative, the workings of the athletics program, and some major issues he faced during his tenure. A faculty member at Stanford since 1972, Porras explains that he became involved with the athletics department in the 1980s when the football coaches asked faculty to meet with potential recruits about their academic goals. Porras then took on the faculty athletics representative position when it became available several years later. Porras describes the main duties of the job, including conferring with the athletic director and the senior woman administrator of the athletics program, serving as the voting representative at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Pac-12 conferences, and cultivating and monitoring compliance culture at the university. He highlights that Stanford administrators committed early to following both the letter and the spirit of rulings passed at NCAA and Pac-12 meetings, a legacy that he is proud of. Porras discusses how Stanford chose to handle Title IX differently from other schools. Unlike other Pac-12 schools that cut men’s programs to comply with the new regulations, Stanford increased the number of women’s programs. Porras relates the Title IX discussion to the financial structure of the athletics program, noting how day-to-day operations are funded and how Stanford alumni have made significant contributions to the success of longer-term projects, such as facility improvements, new programs, and athletic scholarships. Porras also compares the varying strengths of the three athletic directors he worked with. Porras concludes his interview with a discussion of the current state of student athletics within the structures of the NCAA and the Pac-12 organizations. He sees the future of student athlete programs shifting due to the influence of television and funding. He lays out several scenarios, each requiring universities to reevaluate their core values going forward.
- Topic:
- Jerry Porras, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, Department of Athletics_Physical Education_and Recreation, DAPER, Admissions Office, and academic advising
- Imprint:
- August 19, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Prince, David A.
- Author:
- Prince, David A. and Bach, Becky
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- David A. Prince, the Edward F. and Irene Thiele Pimley Professor in Neurology and the Neurological Sciences, discusses his family background, education, and medical residency. He provides an overview of his research in epilepsy, comments on change over time in his research field, and discusses some of the organizational changes in his department and the School of Medicine. Prince begins the interview by recalling a carefree childhood in New Jersey in spite of the challenges presented by the Great Depression and anti-Semitism. He tells the story of how his mother successfully sued the board of education in Kenilworth, New Jersey, when they forbade her to return to her teaching position after his birth. He recounts his years attending the University of Vermont, enrolling in the College of Medicine there, and the family tragedy led him to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he earned his MD. Prince discusses the training he received as a resident in neurology at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, and then being drafted and continuing work in neurology at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii before returning to Mount Sinai to complete his residency. He recalls the circumstances that led him to the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University in 1969. Describing how epilepsy became the primary focus of his research, he speaks about what was known in epilepsy research when he started, what he and his colleagues set out to discover, starting with the activity of nerve cells, and some of the groundbreaking discoveries in the field throughout his career. Prince also discusses administrative changes that have taken place in the department and at the university, including the adoption of a new departmental name, the move of the Medical School from San Francisco to the Stanford campus, and the failed merger of the Stanford and UCSF hospitals. He describes how treatment methods have changed for epilepsy patients, talks about his current National Institute of Health grants, and speaks of his dedication to training the next generation of researchers.
- Topic:
- David Prince, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, medicine, epilepsy, neuroscience, neurology, School of Medicine, and World War II
- Imprint:
- November 9, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Quinn, Helen R.
- Author:
- Quinn, Helen R. and Waldron, Manjula
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Helen R. Quinn begins with her childhood growing up in Australia and how that experience, including intellectual discussions with her father and brothers, influenced her in life. Her family moved to the United States when she was college age. Quinn continues with her experiences at Stanford as a student and her decision to pursue a degree in physics. She talks about being a female in a largely male world. She recalls her experiences as a married student and as a post-doctoral fellow in Germany, followed by her experience at SLAC on her return to Stanford. She covers a variety of other topics, including the Paccei-Quinn Symmetry, tenure track issues, family life, women’s issues, salary inequities, her contributions in the field of physics and her awards. She concludes with her work in K-12 science education.
- Topic:
- Helen Quinn, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, American Physical Society, Sidney Drell, particle physics, and astrophysics
- Imprint:
- October 17, 2014
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Reaven, Gerald M.
- Author:
- Reaven, Gerald M. and Smuga-Otto, Kim
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Gerald M. Reaven is a Professor of Medicine, Emeritus at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His groundbreaking research helped demonstrate that insulin resistance could lead to type 2 diabetes. The first part of the interview begins with Reaven’s decision to attend the University of Chicago for his undergraduate and medical degrees and what drew him to research. He recounts how the military’s use of the draft to recruit doctors influenced his decision to take a research fellowship at Stanford and recalls his, and his family’s, experiences when he was stationed in Germany. He contrasts his impressions of Stanford’s hospital (then located in San Francisco) with the University of Chicago’s medical program and explains why he chose to do his residency at the University of Michigan. However, the change in direction of the Stanford medical school program -- both in the five year curriculum for students and the recruitment of full time professors to teach and see patients -- and the relocation of the hospital drew him back. He reminisces on the atmosphere at Stanford during this time as well as how he set up his lab and collaborated with fellow Stanford professor, Charles Lucas. Reaven discusses what led him to his experiments that proved type II diabetes was due to insulin insensitivity, as opposed to lack of insulin in the blood, and how his research progressed. He recalls how he chose the topic of his famous Banting Lecture and the resulting awareness into the link between insulin insensitivity and increased risk of the individual to strokes and heart attacks. The second interview focuses on Reaven’s administration experience with several divisions within the medical school and how he came to be the director of the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at the VA hospital, where he was able to implement “unconventional medical training.” He discusses his wife’s academic career (Eve Reaven holds a PhD in anatomy and worked as a professor at Stanford) and how they balanced careers and family. Reaven also recounts his work with committees to promote gender equality in medical admissions and tenure appointments, and what Stanford was like in the 1960s.
- Topic:
- Gerald M. Reaven, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Halsted Holman, and John Farquhar
- Imprint:
- October 2, 2015 - October 7, 2015
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Rebholz, Ronald A.
- Author:
- Rebholz, Ronald A. and Tracy, Allison K.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Professor Rebholz opens the first session by briefly discussing his early life in St. Louis, his family and their importance in his life, his education in both public and catholic schools, and his time in the army. He discusses his year of graduate study at Stanford before entering the army, and his time as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where he eventually earned his D.Phil. He goes on to cover his arrival at Stanford in 1961, and his frustration over the firing of Bruce Franklin, a colleague in the English Department. He discusses faculty members and the departmental culture of the time, his classes and teaching, and his experience as department chair. The second session starts with Professor Rebholz noting the importance of departmental administrative staff. He goes on to recount his time on Stanford’s Academic Senate, including his interactions with university presidents. He discusses his work with John Manley and their shared disapproval of the Hoover Institution and vehement opposition to the Reagan Library and Research Center. He also discusses his involvement in instituting the Western Culture courses and the need for students to develop both analytical and writing skills. Professor Rebholz notes other issues he raised on campus, including the university’s relationship to Webb Ranch and unionizing Stanford employees. The interview moves on to awards Professor Rebholz received, as well as his thoughts on both the growth of and changes at Stanford in terms of the campus and the community.
- Topic:
- Ronald A. Rebholz, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, English Department, History Departent, and Bruce Franklin
- Imprint:
- June 5, 2013 - June 18, 2013
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
