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- Title:
- Abernethy, David B. (2017)
- Author:
- Abernethy, David B. and Gamlen, Tod
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In this oral history, David Abernethy, a professor emeritus of political science who served seventeen terms in the Faculty Senate and chaired the body during the 1981-82 academic year, discusses the role and processes of the Faculty Senate and some of the controversial issues it has grappled with, including the evolution of the Western Culture curricular requirement, the university’s investment in South Africa, the relationship between the university and the Hoover Institution, and the possibility of locating the Ronald Reagan presidential library at Stanford. Briefly describing his academic background in African Studies, Abernethy tells how he was completing doctoral research in Nigeria in 1965 when he received an invitation to come to Stanford University. He shares personal recollections of the campus climate in the late 1960s, including the first teach-in on Vietnam, responses to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and a rowdy session of the Academic Council reviewing Stanford President J. E. Wallace Sterling’s decision to discipline antiwar protestors. Abernethy turns then to the 55-member Faculty Senate, which marks its fiftieth anniversary in 2018, discussing in detail its structure, traditions, and processes, especially the alphabetical assignment of seating and the availability of the university president and provost for questions. First voted chair in 1981-1982, he also describes the workings of the Senate’s principal committees and the role of the academic secretary who administers them. Regarding the Committee on Undergraduate Studies, Abernethy offers an analysis of the Western Culture curricular requirement as it changed to meet the demands of a multicultural university and society, beginning in 1976. As he sees it, to highlight Western cultures is a disservice to all non-Western people, and culture can be used as a code word for issues surrounding race and ethnicity. The Faculty Senate discussion of Stanford’s investments in weapons makers and later companies supporting South Africa under apartheid are his next topics. Abernethy talks about his corporate social responsibility work, including urging the university the participate in shareholder proxy votes related to South Africa and meeting with the chairman of Wells Fargo Bank to express concern about a bank loan to South Africa. Beginning with an appreciation of the resource represented by the Hoover Institution’s library and archives, Abernethy turns to Stanford’s fractious relationship during the 1980s with Hoover and its leader, Glenn Campbell. The critical issue became whether and where a Reagan Presidential Library should be located at Stanford, he says, a proposal initiated by Campbell’s independent contacts with the Reagan White House. Despite the potential resources of such a library, Abernethy notes, faculty were concerned about the consequences for Stanford’s image of adding a second campus landmark honoring a prominent twentieth-century conservative president, the first being the Hoover Tower, and the siting of the project. Ending the controversy, the Reagan Presidential Foundation chose to seek a site in Southern California. A related issue, however, dealt with Campbell’s initiative to grant senior fellows at the Hoover Institution membership in Stanford’s Academic Council, Abernethy notes, which raised issues of qualifications and inequitable exemption from teaching responsibilities. Abernethy concludes the interview with an overall evaluation of Stanford’s Faculty Senate.
- Topic:
- David Abernethy, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Stanford University. Faculty Senate, universities and colleges--administration, universities and colleges--faculty, anti-apartheid movements, universities and colleges--curricula, and Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
- Imprint:
- June 29, 2017 - June 30, 2017
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Bratman, Michael E.
- Author:
- Bratman, Michael E.
- Corporate Author:
- Gifford, Jonathan G. and Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Professor Michael Bratman offers general reflections on the operations of the Stanford Faculty Senate and describes his experience as the chair of the 29th Faculty Senate in 1996-1997. A key topic of the 29th Senate was the reevaluation of the Cultures, Ideas, and Values (CIV) Area One requirement, which attracted a great deal of national attention as to whether Stanford would remain committed to diversity in its curriculum. Bratman describes with pride how the senate handled this complicated issue and put in place a process that all constituencies felt was fair. Bratman also comments on the agenda-setting role of the Senate Steering Committee and the essential role played by the Academic Secretary in providing institutional background, continuity, and preparation for the incoming chair. Other topics covered include the electoral process, the role played by the university president and provost in the senate, the convening of the second Planning and Policy Board, and the way Bratman’s experience as senate chair prepared him for a later role as president of the American Philosophical Association at a challenging time in that organization’s history. The interview ends with Bratman’s reflections on some of the traditions of the senate and his observation that great universities are made in part by the kind of procedures they follow in making important decisions.
- Topic:
- Michael Bratman, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Stanford University. Faculty Senate, universities and colleges--administration, faculty governance, and universities and colleges--faculty
- Imprint:
- July 28, 2017
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Clark, Eve V.
- Author:
- Clark, Eve V. and Samra, Sukhi
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Eve V. Clark, Richard W. Lyman Professor of Humanities and an internationally known linguist, reviews her life journey from the United Kingdom to the United States. Clark begins by discussing her childhood in Britain, emphasizing her relationship with her sister, and her early education. Clark recounts traveling with her family, reflecting particularly on her time in France and the impact that learning the French language at a young age has had on her. She then describes her time at the University of Edinburgh and her time studying abroad in Aux-en-Provence and Barcelona. Clark then discusses how her interest in linguistics developed, accrediting the year-long phonetics course she had previously completed and her decision to attend the Linguistics Institute at the University of California Los Angeles. Clark describes meeting her husband, Herb, completing her PhD, and coming to Stanford. Clark comments on her experience as an academic couple and on how she managed having a career and a family. Clark talks extensively about her research in language acquisition, describing past studies she has conducted and textbooks she has produced. She then details her work with undergraduates, the classes she has taught, and her time serving on multiple advisory boards. Clark then describes in more detail her time at Stanford, recounting how the Linguistics Department has evolved, the Loma Prieta earthquake, student discontent in the 1970s, the committees she had served on, and how being a woman has impacted her career, and her consciousness of the feminist movement. The interview concludes with Clark commenting on how Stanford can continue to cultivate a more hospitable environment for women and by reminiscing on how the students at Stanford, and their motivation and energy, has driven her decision to continue teaching at the university.
- Topic:
- Eve V. Clark, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, pioneering women, Bing Nursery School, Language acquisition--children, Language acquisition--parent participation, Language acquisition--psychological aspects, John Lyon, psycholinguistics, Stanford University--faculty--gender equality, Stanford University--Department of Linguistics, universities and colleges--faculty, universities and colleges--research, and universities and colleges--administration
- Imprint:
- May 11, 2016 - May 13, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Drekmeier, Charles.
- Author:
- Drekmeier, Charles and Marine-Street, Natalie
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Professor Emeritus Charles Drekmeier, who served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Academic Council from 1966 to 1968, describes the general climate at Stanford around the time that the Faculty Senate was formed. Drekmeier discusses the circumstances that led to his arrival at Stanford in 1958, including the recommendation of sociologist Talcott Parsons with whom he had worked as a research assistant at Harvard. He recalls how, as a young faculty member with a student following due his involvement in early anti-Vietnam war activism, he was invited to be an at-large member of the Executive Committee of the Academic Council in 1966. He offers recollections of key movers in academic governance at the time, including J.E. Wallace Sterling, Albert Guerard, Richard Lyman, Herb Packard, Ernest Hilgard, and Kenneth Arrow, and provides brief insights on the character of Executive Committee meetings at the time that the Faculty Senate came into being. Drekmeier also recounts memories about organizing the Stanford Teach-In on the Vietnam War in 1965 and the program in Social Thought and Institutions.
- Topic:
- Charles Drekmeier, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Stanford University--Academic Council, Stanford University--Executive Committee of the Academic Council, Stanford University--Senate of the Academic Council (Faculty Senate), teacher participation in administration, universities and colleges--administration, universities and colleges--faculty, Vietnam War, and 1961-1975--Protest movements--United States
- Imprint:
- November 14, 2017
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Drekmeier, Charles.
- Author:
- Drekmeier, Charles and Steinhart, Peter
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Charles Drekmeier is Professor of Political Science, Emeritus at Stanford University. He came to Stanford in 1958 and spent almost forty years teaching at the university during an era of great social and political change. In this interview, Drekmeier discusses his academic training with Talcott Parsons and others, his interests in political theory and social thought, the development of the Stanford Program in Social Thought, and civil rights and anti-Vietnam War activism on the Stanford campus during the 1960s and 1970s. Drekmeier touches briefly on his hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin where his parents owned a drugstore. He describes his first exposure to college at the University of Chicago where he was admitted to the innovative two-year bachelors degree program conceived by Robert Maynard Hutchins. Drekmeier describes meeting communist political activists there, his struggle to acclimate, and his eventual transfer to the University of Wisconsin. He discusses his induction into the army towards the end of World War II and relates stories from basic training and other postings. Upon returning to the University of Wisconsin after the war, Drekmeier’s interest in political science and sociology grew. He explains how he took an internship with the State Department to study the European Recovery Program and details his travels through Europe. He relates his decision to pursue a master’s degree in history at Columbia University and describes some of the professors he worked with there, including Henry Steele Commager. Drekmeier discusses his early academic career, first at the University of Wisconsin where he taught economics and political geography in the Integrated Liberal Studies Program (ILS), and then at Boston University where he taught human relations and political economy before receiving a Fulbright scholarship to study the history of law and politics in India. He relates stories from his time in India and explains how he came to enroll in a graduate program at Harvard where he worked as a research assistant to Talcott Parsons. Drekmeier describes the circumstances that led him to join the Stanford faculty. He couches the discussion of his teaching experience at Stanford and his reputation as a “liberal” professor in terms of the social and political movements of the time. He describes the twenty-four hour teach-in hosted by the campus Peace in Vietnam committee in 1965 and discusses the ideas and impact of Bruce Franklin, a tenured professor of English who was fired from Stanford for his role in anti-war campus protests. Drekmeier discusses the development and evolution of a social science honors seminar called Social Thought and Institutions. This long-running program studied a single topic, such as “community,” for an entire academic year. Drekmeier credits his students with sharing fresh ideas that affected his perspective. Drekmeier explains his first public appearance as a “political figure” during a campus event about the civil rights movement. He recalls the day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the emotional address he gave to students that evening, and he describes how he became involved in the Resurrection City program at the request of students who desired to participate in the encampment in Washington DC. He concludes the interview with reflections on Stanford as an institution and the story of the Drekmeier Drugs bowling team.
- Topic:
- Charles Drekmeier, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Franklin, H. Bruce, Stanford University--campus culture--Civil Rights Movement, Stanford University--campus culture--John F. Kennedy assassination, Stanford University--campus culture--Vietnam War, Stanford University--courses--Social Thought and Institutions, universities and colleges--activism, and universities and colleges--faculty
- Imprint:
- April 6, 2016 - April 7, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Ernst, W. Gary.
- Author:
- Ernst, W. Gary and Torre, Alicia
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In this oral history, W. Gary Ernst, Stanford’s Benjamin M. Page Professor in Earth Sciences, Emeritus, and the former dean of the School of Earth Sciences, revisits his research and teaching career in geology and his experiences as an administrator. Ernst begins his interview by discussing his early life in St. Paul, Minnesota and his days at Carleton College where he was influenced by the charismatic Lawrence Gould. He describes his post-graduate pursuits at the University of Minnesota with Sam Goldich and at John Hopkins and the Carnegie Institution of Washington Geophysical Laboratory where he developed a special expertise in synthesizing amphiboles. Gary explains what drew him to UCLA in 1960 and his activities there. He shares his experiences doing research abroad as a Fulbright Scholar in Japan and on sabbaticals in Switzerland and Asia. Ernst explains how the emerging theory of plate tectonics provided the explanation for the high pressure, low-temperature minerals found in his California field research. Ernst was recruited to Stanford as dean of the School of Earth Sciences in 1989. He arrived at difficult time and was soon confronted with the destruction of the Loma Prieta earthquake, the indirect costs controversy, and budget cuts. He describes his successful efforts to bolster geochemistry through association with the United States Geological Survey and to establish the interdisciplinary Earth Systems Program. He also explains some of the challenges he faced and why he resigned as dean in 1994. Ernst concludes the interview by reflecting on teaching, the advantages and disadvantages of the breadth of his work, emerging trends in the geosciences, and how an undergraduate liberal arts education shaped his career.
- Topic:
- W. Gary Ernst, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Stanford University--School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, Stanford University--Department of Geological Sciences, universities and colleges--faculty, universities and colleges--administration, California Coast Ranges, geochemistry, and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe
- Imprint:
- December 10, 2015 - December 22, 2015
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Gilly, William F.
- Author:
- Gilly, William F. and Maher, Susan
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- William Gilly is a biology professor at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station whose research has contributed to our basic understanding of electrical excitability in nerve and muscle cells in a wide variety of organisms ranging from brittle stars to mammals. In this interview, Gilly discusses the path his science career has taken, including measuring gas diffusion across membranes, patch clamping giant squid neurons, and retracing John Steinbeck and Edward Ricketts’s expedition to the Sea of Cortez. Beyond his research, he explains how he has incorporated exploration and discovery into his courses and science outreach. Gilly begins the interview with his affinity for Uncle Wiggly, an aged but adventurous rabbit from a series of children’s stories, and describes his own independent forays into the natural surroundings of Allentown, Pennsylvania when he was a child. He explains his family’s technical background and how his interest in ham radio led him to pursue an electrical engineering degree at Princeton. Gilly details the independent undergraduate research project that landed him in a neurophysiology lab, shifted his focus to biology, and, despite inconclusive results, earned him an award from his engineering department. He describes his acceptance to the PhD program at Washington University in St. Louis and how, when his advisor died suddenly, a network of friends and acquaintances from Yale University, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, and the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories enabled him to complete his research and thesis in physiology and biophysics and to begin a postdoctoral fellowship in Clara Franzini-Armstrong’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania, studying the role of ion channels in electrical signaling in squid axons. This expertise, Gilly explains, resulted in his appointment at Stanford, working at Hopkins Marine Station where he could collect squid specimens directly from the bay. Citing his experiences both as a scientist and fisherman, he opines on the ways that the Monterey Bay has and has not recovered. After discussing the bureaucratic challenges of achieving tenure, he launches into stories about the classes he has taught, including a technical training course on patch clamping squid neurons, a holistic biology class that involved field research in Baja California Big Sur and the Salinas River, and the Steinbeck Summer Institutes program for primary educators. A central text to many of these courses is Steinbeck and Ricketts’s Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, and Gilly discusses how he and several colleagues organized their own expedition based on Steinbeck and Ricketts’s sea voyage. He details preparations and sponsorship for the trip and mentions how the original expedition’s ship, the Western Flyer, is being restored for outreach and possible future trips. Gilly talks about his other outreach work, including donating giant squid to primary classrooms for his Squid4Kids program, trying to mount a critter-cam on a squid for National Geographic TV, and serving as a National Geographic Expert on their Lindblad cruises in the Sea of Cortez. He concludes the interview by discussing his current project helping to set up a community-run marine lab in Santa Rosalía, Baja California Sur, Mexico and how it might be used for environmental research and education.
- Topic:
- William F. Gilly, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, marine biology, marine biologists, Hopkins Marine Station, Monterey Bay, Humboldt squid, Sea of Cortez Expedition and Education Project, Squids4Kids, universities and colleges--faculty, universities and colleges--research, and holistic biology
- Imprint:
- February 22, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Kailath, Thomas.
- Author:
- Kailath, Thomas and DiPaolo, Andy
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In this oral history interview, Thomas Kailath, Stanford University’s Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, traces his path from the small town of Pune, India, to his appointment to the faculty of the Stanford Department of Electrical Engineering. He discusses his family background, his education in India and at MIT, and aspects of his varied research career in information theory, controls, signal processing, very-large-scale integration, and beyond. He reflects on his approach to working with graduate students, the academic environment at Stanford, and the interrelationship between teaching and research. Kailath begins the interview by speaking about his childhood in India, describing the state of Kerala where his parents were born, and explaining the Syrian Christian derivation of his first name. He describes his parents and the strong influence they had on him and his education at St. Vincent’s, a convent school run by Jesuit missionaries, where he became intrigued by geometry and proofs. He talks about his college education--first at Fergusson College and then in the highly selective Bachelor of Engineering in Telecom program led by Chandrashekhar Aiya at the College of Engineering, Pune. Interestingly, the only textbook he recalls using was the fourth edition of Frederick Terman’s Electronic and Radio Engineering. Kailath relates the story of how he came to attend graduate school at MIT when Dr. Ganugapati Stephen Krishnayya, the Indian educational attaché in Washington, DC and a man his family knew from church, encouraged him to apply to graduate programs and carried his transcript and letters of recommendation to universities in the United States. After Kailath received a research assistantship at MIT, his father’s employer at Pocha Seeds helped him to secure the funding needed to travel there. Kailath describes the late 1950s and early 1960s at MIT as “the golden time” due to the post-Sputnik availability of funding, including block grants from the Joint Services Electronics Program, and a particularly talented group of faculty and graduate students interested in the new field of information theory. Kailath speaks of his advisor, Jack Wozencraft, the MIT Research Lab of Electronics, his thesis research on linear time-variant filters, and jobs at the Lincoln Laboratory at MIT and Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Kailath recounts details of his recruitment to Stanford in 1963 and discusses the Information Systems Lab. He credits then provost Frederick Terman with creating a great teaching and research environment at Stanford and describes Terman’s approach to developing “steeples of excellence”--strong departments that attracted academic stars who in turn attracted more stars. Kailath recalls some of the challenges that he and his wife, Sarah, encountered as a newly married couple with young children living far from their families in India, and he reflects on the growth of the Indian community in Silicon Valley since the 1960s. Asked about his efforts on India’s behalf, he relates a story about meeting with officials in India’s defense establishment while on sabbatical at the Indian Institute of Science and encouraging them to set up a system of funding similar to the block grants offered by the Joint Services Electronics Program. Kailath reflects on the relationship between academic research and private industry in Silicon Valley, noting that many of his students went on to start companies. He reflects on the importance of “bridging between disciplines” (or interdisciplinary research) and comments on the difficulties that young faculty members face in developing expertise in multiple disciplines. Kailath describes his approach to working with graduate students and credits his wide professional network for directing excellent students to study with him at Stanford. He compares Stanford’s approach to engineering education to that of MIT and describes his students as his legacy, reflecting on the “multiplier effect” that occurs when one trains students. Kailath concludes his interview by talking about his children, the rationale behind his charitable scholarship donations, and his life since retirement.
- Topic:
- Thomas Kailath, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, universities and colleges--research, universities and colleges--faculty, and telecommunications
- Imprint:
- March 19, 2015 - May 14, 2015
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Macovski, Albert.
- Author:
- Macovski, Albert and Marine-Street, Natalie J.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Albert Macovski, the Canon USA Professor of Engineering, Emeritus has been affiliated with Stanford since 1960, first as a research engineer and staff scientist at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and then as a faculty member with expertise in medical imaging and a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Radiology. In this oral history, Macovski talks about his family background and growing up in New York City in the 1930s. Among other things, he describes his father’s work as a jeweler, the impact of the Great Depression on his family, attending the New York World’s Fair, and his interest in ham radio. Macovski recalls his studies in electrical engineering at City College of New York during the immediate post-war period and the significant change in his life occasioned by meeting his future wife, Adelaide “Addie” Paris. He describes obtaining a job at RCA Laboratories upon graduating from college and what it was like to work in the early television industry, including trying to solve problems related to synchronization and color television broadcasting. Macovski talks about pursuing his master’s degrees at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and then working as an assistant professor there. He relates the factors that influenced his decision to accept a job at SRI: a desire to get his PhD, wanting to be where the action in electronics was, and the favorable climate. Describing the environment at SRI in the 1960s, Macovski discusses his work on the Nimbus weather satellite and his invention of the single tube color camera. He describes the process of earning his PhD through Stanford’s Honors Coop Program, his dissertation on holography, and a post-doctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health that allowed him to study in the Department of Radiology at the University of California San Francisco. He goes on to describe joining the faculty at Stanford and his varied research projects, including work on ultrasonic array, recording images of the beating heart, and developing techniques to differentiate between hard and soft tissue. He also discusses a project to image the coronary arteries. Macovski recounts the story of how a sabbatical year offered him the chance to study magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to work with Godfrey Hounsfield at the Medical Physics Department of Hammersmith Hospital. He describes obtaining an MRI system from General Electric and the process of getting it installed on campus. Macovksi also discusses his approach to working with graduate students and offers reflections on the process of commercializing technology and obtaining patents. He concludes the interview with comments on new directions in the field of medical imaging and on his decision to endow a chair in the Electrical Engineering Department.
- Topic:
- Albert Macovski, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, medical imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, television--transmitters and transmission, television cameras, x-ray imaging, Stanford Research Institute (SRI), Stanford University--Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University--Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory, universities and colleges--research, universities and colleges--faculty, and universities and colleges--graduate work
- Imprint:
- February 2, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Miner, Anne S.
- Author:
- Miner, Anne S. and Devaney, Patricia L.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Anne S. Miner, a professor emeritus known for her research on management and organizational learning, worked at Stanford University in the 1970s as a consultant to the president on affirmative action for women and as the university’s affirmative action officer. She is recognized for her work in designing and implementing the hiring policies and practices related to under-represented minorities. This oral history focuses on the employment status of women faculty at Stanford and, to some extent, throughout academia from the 1970s to the present. The first interview session revolve around Miner’s early life and education, her first job at Stanford in the Development Office, her involvement in the burgeoning “women’s movement,” and her work as consultant to the Stanford president on affirmative action for women in 1971. She discusses policy issues that affected women faculty and the formation of the Women’s Forum and the Committee on the Education and Employment of Women. In the first and second interview sessions, Miner talks about her role as consultant to the president and the issues she handled, including Stanford’s policies regarding married couples’ faculty appointments, maternity and paternity leaves, the “tenure clock” as it affected women, and part-time employment of faculty. She also discusses the government regulations being passed in the 1970s that required affirmative action programs for all federal contractors and the pressure these regulations put on American universities. Miner details issues such as salary equity for staff; training programs for faculty and staff to increase awareness of affirmative action requirements and procedures; child care needs, policies and practices; her role in ensuring that academic searches included women and minorities; and the creation of the Stanford Center for Research on Women in 1974 (now the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research). Miner then recalls her decision to leave her job in order to pursue doctoral study at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, her life as a female student with a small child, and the impact affirmative action had on her life as a student. In the third and final interview session, Miner discusses her job as a professor of business at the University of Wisconsin and her primary focus and impact in the field of organizational behavior. Looking back, Miner reflects on how her Stanford experience in affirmative action has impacted the rest of her career. She also reflects on the progress women have, and have not, made over the past forty-three years, as well as the issues that still remain. As the interview concludes, Miner offers advice to young women embarking on their academic careers today.
- Topic:
- Anne Miner, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, pioneering women, universities and colleges--administration, universities and colleges--faculty, and universities and colleges--graduate work
- Imprint:
- June 24, 2014 - June 28, 2014
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Reimers, Niels J.
- Author:
- Reimers, Niels J. and Horton, Larry
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Niels J. Reimers, founder and former director of Stanford University's Office of Technology Licensing (OTL), begins his interview describing his family and living in Norway and Carmel, California. He describes his student days at Stanford and Oregon State as a mechanical engineering major, and he reflects on the three years he spent in the Navy on the USS Bon Homme Richard. Reimers also discusses his experience as an industrial engineer at Ampex and his transition into marketing at Philco Western Development Laboratories (later Philco-Ford) where he learned about contract law and how to develop new products from scratch. Reimers recounts his work as lead negotiator for Ford Aeronutronic on a contract change to the Reentry Management Program with the US Air Force and his departure from industry. Reimers describes his return to Stanford as Associate Director of Research Administration and his early interest in commercializing research inventions. He speaks of the system present at Stanford when he arrived in which there was no organized patent program. Inventions were sent to an outside company, Research Corporation, for licensing, and Stanford received minimal royalty income. Reimers describes the creation and approval of the pilot program for the Office of Technology Licensing and the development of a new royalty distribution system. He remembers the inventors and inventions he worked with, including Bill Johnson’s synthetic juvenile growth hormone for pest control, John Chowning’s work with altering the perceptual location of sound in space for electronic keyboards, Stan Cohen’s plasmid and Herb Boyer’s restriction enzyme which led to recombinant DNA, and Art Schawlow’s lasers for erasing. Reimers goes on to describe the autonomy he had managing OTL, his relationship with various deans of research, and working through potential conflicts of interest for inventors. He also discusses how OTL’s entrepreneurial model set it apart from other universities. Reimers recounts his involvement with the Bayh-Dole bill, which gave universities the right to the results of their research. He later reflects on his time spent at MIT, the University of California,Berkley, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) working to help them reform their technology licensing programs. Reimers concludes the interview by summarizing his experience at Stanford, reminiscing about the research discoveries he came across, and reflecting on changes in the administration at Stanford, his retirement, and his activities after he left Stanford.
- Topic:
- Niels J. Reimers, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, administrators, Stanford University--Office of Technology Licensing, technology transfer, patents, patent licenses, license agreements, universities and colleges--research, universities and colleges--faculty, universities and colleges--administration, and Bayh-Dole Act
- Imprint:
- July 2, 2015
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Rubenstein, Edward.
- Author:
- Rubenstein, Edward and Gifford, Jonathan
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Edward Rubenstein, who specializes in clinical medicine and is known for his contributions to medical education and interdisciplinary research, recalls his childhood, education, research endeavors, and his multifaceted career that included collaborations with medical professionals, scientists, artists and many others. Rubenstein grew up, went to school, and completed three years of medical residency in Cincinnati. He discusses how the city, his childhood friends, and his family influenced his personality and interests, as well as his decision to become a doctor. Rubenstein’s inquisitive nature shines through in the recounting of his youth and sets the backdrop for his future contributions. Rubenstein describes the settings in which he gained his clinical experience and the variety of projects he engaged in prior to his arrival at Stanford. He discusses his time stationed at March Air Force Base and how he developed the first medical service program for the base hospital. This experience laid the foundation for Rubenstein’s similar success in designing future medical service programs. Rubenstein recounts how he established his practice on the Peninsula by working as a night advisor for two local hospitals, creating a patient base, and becoming involved with patient rounds. Rubenstein talks about his experience at the San Mateo County General Hospital where he developed a medical service program, engaged deeply in the practice of teaching house staff, and wrote the first-ever textbook for intensive care medicine. After the Stanford University School of Medicine moved from San Francisco to Palo Alto in the 1950s, Rubenstein describes how the San Mateo hospital provided the training ground for Stanford residents and interns while he served as the head of the medical service for Stanford at the county hospital. Rubenstein discusses the collaborative potential made possible by the School of Medicine’s location on campus. He describes a variety of interdisciplinary research projects he established, including work on blood temperature and clotting, fetal hemoglobin, synchrotron radiation, cerebral spinal fluid, chiral molecules, and amino acid-related diseases. He also recalls other projects including the publication of Scientific American MEDICINE; a postgraduate consortium for Northern California practitioners that involved lectures, training courses, and learning sponsorships; and his documentary project on “human uniqueness” as represented by Henry Moore, Yehudi Menuhin, Linus Pauling and other people who were highly accomplished in their fields.
- Topic:
- Edward Rubenstein, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, universities and colleges--faculty, universities and colleges--administration, and universities and colleges--research
- Imprint:
- March 24, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Scott, W. Richard.
- Author:
- Scott, W. Richard and Schofield, Susan W.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- In this oral history, W. Richard Scott, Stanford Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, discusses his early years in Kansas, graduate education at the University of Chicago, his academic career in the Stanford Department of Sociology, and his pioneering work in the field of organizational studies. Scott describes his childhood and teenage years in Parsons, Kansas. He cites the stability provided by his father’s work at the post office during the Great Depression, his mother’s influence, and childhood bouts with asthma as formative factors in his life. He discusses his extracurricular interests during high school, his two years of junior college in Parsons, and his early interest in becoming a minister. Scott describes entering Kansas University as a junior, discovering his love of sociology, and earning his PhD at the University of Chicago, where he worked with Otis Dudley Duncan, Peter Blau, and Everett Hughes Cherrington. Scott recalls his path to joining the Stanford Department of Sociology in 1959 shortly after Fred Terman had recruited Sanford Dornbusch as a promising junior faculty member to chair and “restart” the department, which had been granted additional billets to fill. He describes the highly collaborative nature of the department, as five newly-hired, young sociologists crafted the curriculum, designed a new graduate training program, and worked together on an NSF grant. By the end of the 1960s, Scott recalls, it felt like things were really happening academically at Stanford. Turning to his research on organizations, Scott recounts seeking out faculty from across the university who were studying different aspects of organizations. They formed a community, secured critical funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, and proceeded to develop an exciting new field of organizational studies. Organizational studies flourished at Stanford for twenty years and three of the most important theories in the field were developed here during that period. Describing the trajectory of his research, Scott explains that he has worked on widely divergent topics over his career: authority and control systems in multiple settings, the effectiveness and quality of care in hospitals, organizational structures in K-12 education, changing health care delivery systems, global infrastructure construction projects, and the San Francisco Bay Area system of higher education. He also mentions serving on government grant peer review panels for many years, an experience which he found intellectually rewarding. Scott, who won the H&S Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1987, stresses the importance of teaching and extolls the virtues of the doctoral oral examination. He relates the thinking that went into the writing of his three core textbooks on organization studies and the influence the books have had. He comments on four of his most meaningful professional awards and reflects on some of the Stanford leaders he knew and admired: Dick Lyman, Al Hastorf, Ray Bacchetti, and Ken Cuthbertson. As an observer of Stanford as a bureaucracy for over fifty years, Scott notes a recent movement away from the collegial structure in which departments serve as the primary units, setting a disciplinary-centered agenda. Scott closes the interview by commenting on the benefits of living on the Stanford campus since 1962 and his active involvement with Avenidas Village, a system that supports seniors who want to stay in their own homes as they age.
- Topic:
- Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Avenidas Village, Palo Alto, CA, Dornbusch, Sanford M. “Sandy”, 1926-2016, Scandinavian Consortium on Organizations (SCANCOR), Scott, William Richard “Dick”, 1932-, sociology--organizational studies, Stanford University--Department of Sociology, Stanford University--Organizations Conference at Asilomar, Stanford University--School of Medicine--Russell Sage Program--1960s, Stanford University--Stanford Center for Organizational Research (SCOR), and universities and colleges--faculty
- Imprint:
- June 27, 2016 - July 7, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Seaver, Paul S.
- Author:
- Seaver, Paul S. and Thomas, Odette
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Paul S. Seaver, Professor of Early Modern English History, Emeritus, begins his interview by discussing his childhood on his family’s dairy farm in a Quaker community in rural Pennsylvania. He discusses being a conscientious objector, refusing to register for the draft for the Korean War, and consequently serving time in prison in Danbury, CT. He recalls his years as an undergraduate at Haverford College and as a graduate student at Harvard University. He recounts his early career at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and how he later came to Stanford University. He describes evolutions in the Stanford undergraduate curriculum related to the teaching of western civilization and changes in the faculty in the Department of History, as it slowly became more inclusive of women and minorities. He pays particular attention to the radicalism on campus during the civil rights movement and Vietnam War, and his involvement as a draft counselor, which causes Seaver to segue into further reflection on his time at Danbury penitentiary. Seaver comments on the exclusion of minorities in admission processes until 1964 when, with the hiring of a new dean of admissions, he immediately began to see changes in the student population. Seaver discusses his research for the book Wallington’s World and his fascination with working-class and urban life in seventeenth-century England. He briefly relates his research to the radicalization of societies more generally and comments on modern politics. He also touches on what he appreciates about his career at Stanford and raising his family in Palo Alto. Seaver concludes his interview by discussing his Jewish immigrant heritage, his parents’ early life and eventual conversion to the Quaker religion, and his father’s work with the American Friends Service Committee.
- Topic:
- Paul Seaver, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, universities and colleges--administration, universities and colleges--curricula, and universities and colleges--faculty
- Imprint:
- May 25, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Smith, Marshall S.
- Author:
- Smith, Marshall S. and Hannigan, Anne
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Marshall Smith, professor and dean of Stanford University’s School of Education from 1986 to 1993, helped shape American education policy through his broad academic research and his service in three presidential administrations. At Stanford, he guided the school through a budget crisis, augmented its academic curriculum with practical applications, and increased the diversity of both faculty and students. Smith begins the interview with a brief overview of his childhood spent moving between New Jersey and several other states due to his father’s job as a military psychologist during World War II. He relates how an early stint as a computer programmer gave him the technical expertise to perform the automated analysis of textual content, which became his initial research focus as a graduate student at the Harvard School of Education. Smith describes his shift into the study of education policy. He explains his role in the review of the Coleman Report, a massive survey of educational conditions in the United States undertaken in the mid-1960’s, and how he joined the project through his connection with Pat Moynihan, then a professor at Harvard. Smith speaks about his faculty appointment at Harvard, founding the Center for Education Policy Research with Christopher Jencks and David Cohen, and the work he did to analyze the initial results from the Head Start program. Smith then explains his entry into government work, discussing how he ran the reading program at the National Institute of Education and then advised on educational policy in the Carter administration. He explains how his advancement to a senior leadership position in the newly formed Department of Education was initially derailed by the conclusion drawn in his book, Inequality, that there was not a strong correlation between student achievement and school desegregation. While he defends his statistical finding, he relates his own personal distaste for school segregation, formed during his youth when his father took him to see the rundown conditions in a nearby African American school, when his family lived in Georgia. After touching on his time as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his participation in an educational delegation to China in 1980, Smith details how he was recruited to Stanford in 1986 to be dean of the School of Education. Ruminating on his deanship, Smith talks about efforts to increase student diversity in the Stanford School of Education and at the university level through his work with the University Committee on Minority Issues. He discusses efforts to improve faculty diversity as well. Smith recalls some of his other goals as dean including expanding the school’s influence in policy and practical applications. He explains how establishing national and state level policy centers at the university facilitated these changes, and he runs through the many retirements and hires during his tenure. He discusses how budget issues in 1989 involved him in a university-wide administrative reorganization and drove him to implement changes to his own school, including starting a financially lucrative master’s program and a training program for school principals. He talks about his research work with Jennifer O’Day on primary education standards and testing, the results of which eventually made their way into national standard discussions. Smith explains the events that again drew him into government: his work with the Democratic-controlled Congress under the first Bush administration and his friendship with then Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. He speaks about requesting a break from Stanford to serve on Clinton’s presidential transitional team, which became permanent when he was given the job of Under Secretary of the Department of Education, and tells the story of his return to Stanford in 2000. Smith then speaks about his later career and projects: directing the Education Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, developing resources for early online courses, advising the Obama administration on distributing primary education stimulus money, and his non-profit work in Pakistan. He gives his impressions of the political environment when he worked with different administrations. Smith closes the interview talking about cooperative learning theory, his optimism that programs like Common Core and Social Emotional Learning will improve educational outcomes, and his thoughts on charter schools.
- Topic:
- Smith, Marshall S., Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, deans, Stanford University--School of Education, Stanford University--Graduate School of Education, educational policy, education and state, school integration, universities and colleges--administration, and universities and colleges--faculty
- Imprint:
- January 14, 2016 - January 21, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Thompson, George A.
- Author:
- Thompson, George A. and Fetter, Alexander L.
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- George A. Thompson, Otto N. Miller Professor of Earth Sciences and Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, Emeritus, begins his interview describing his early life in Swissvale, Pennsylvania, his family, and early inclinations toward science. He continues on to his time as an undergraduate and master’s student at Penn State and MIT respectively, his work with the U.S. Geological Survey in West Texas, and his time spent in the navy before coming to Stanford to pursue his PhD under the mentorship of Professor Aaron Waters. Thompson also discusses his early teaching experiences at Stanford and the atmosphere of the newly formed Geophysics Department. Thompson goes on to describe going back to work with the U.S. Geological Survey in Nevada after graduating and later returning to Stanford as a professor. He further discusses his approach to teaching and his role in shaping the School of Earth Sciences as chair of the Department of Geophysics and Department of Geology. He notes his interactions with the administration after succeeding Allan Cox as dean of the School of Earth Sciences, appointing and evaluating junior faculty, and working with university donors such as Cecil Green. Thompson also discusses Earth Sciences’ connections with the oil industry and his memories of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He speaks of the consolidation of departments and changes in the School of Earth Sciences under new dean Gary Ernst. He then delves into his research in transition between the Sierra Nevada and the basin ranges, his time at Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University, fieldwork experiences in New Zealand, and the evolution of the disciplines of geology and geophysics. He describes his time on the USGS Advisory Panel and discusses issues of nuclear waste disposal and fracking. Thompson reflects on his involvement with geophysics and geology organizations, including the Geological Society of America and American Geophysical Union, and speaks about the notable awards he has received in his career. Thompson concludes the interview by discussing his family life, forestry work, and continued involvement at Stanford as an emeritus professor.
- Topic:
- George Thompson, Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, universities and colleges--administration, and universities and colleges--faculty
- Imprint:
- January 27, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
- Title:
- Weiler, Hans N.
- Author:
- Weiler, Hans N. and Marincovich, Michele
- Corporate Author:
- Stanford Historical Society
- Description:
- Hans N. Weiler, Professor of Education and Political Science Emeritus and the current Academic Secretary to the University, has had a distinguished career as an educator and administrator. In addition to his work at Stanford, Weiler served as the first president of Viadrina European University Frankfurt/Oder in Germany, and he also conceptualized the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and served as its first leader. Weiler begins the interviews by clarifying that, although he began his career as a political scientist with a particular interest in Africa, he has had a foot in two camps at Stanford--the School of Education (later renamed the Graduate School of Education) and the Department of Political Science. He describes how he came to Stanford, citing the efforts of Professor of Education Paul Hanna, a visionary in international development education, and what Stanford was like in the mid-1960s. Weiler talks about Hanna’s role in the creation of the Stanford International Development Education Center (SIDEC) and the change in its leadership. He describes the interesting and significant work he did at SIDEC and the influential educators the center produced when its students went back to their home countries in Africa and Asia. He notes the connections that he developed in the field when he was on leave from Stanford for three years to direct the International Institute for Educational Planning, a UNESCO organization in Paris. He discusses his involvement with the Center for European Studies at Stanford and the challenge to area studies as a legitimate field. Weiler recounts other career milestones, including two very critical years in the 1980s as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Education, when he placed graduate student funding in Education on a firm footing for the first time. Another milestone was his gradual transition out of African studies and into European studies amidst post-colonial reverberations in Africa and the reunification of Germany in 1989. Weiler recalls his work in remaking higher education in what had been East Germany, which eventually led to his early retirement from Stanford and becoming the first president of Viadrina. There, during two terms and in the face of various challenges, he tried to apply lessons regarding best practices in university education and administration he had learned at Stanford and in his research. Weiler goes on to talk about his retirement from Viadrina and taking on a unique task--the conceptualization and realization of the Hertie School of Governance, the first privately funded public policy institution in Germany. He recalls his decision, after nurturing the Hertie School to prominence, to come back to Stanford, and to the challenge/opportunity that he is still discharging, that of Stanford’s Academic Secretary. In addition to explaining his own role, Weiler discusses the origin and development of Stanford’s strong faculty governance system, the Faculty Senate, though he muses that it may be in need of redefinition at this point. He comments on the changes at Stanford since the 1960s, in particular the expansion of the university’s administration, the “gentrification” of the university, changing campus architecture, and the re-emergence of student activism. Having shared recollections of his career, Weiler talks about what it was like to grow up in Nazi Germany, describes his initial pursuit of Jesuit priesthood, and recounts his experience in the newly independent countries of Africa in the late 1950s that culminated in his devotion to African studies. Finally, Weiler compares Stanford and US higher education to European higher education, noting the ironic decline of liberal arts education in America at a time when it is gaining popularity in Europe and commenting on recent efforts in American postsecondary education.
- Topic:
- Weiler, Hans N., Stanford Historical Society, oral histories, interviews, higher education, professors, Stanford University--Graduate School of Education, Stanford University--School of Education, Stanford University--Department of Political Science, Stanford University--Stanford International Development Education Center (SIDEC), Stanford University--Office of the Academic Secretary, Stanford University--Faculty Senate, universities and colleges--administration, universities and colleges--faculty, universities and colleges--Germany, and Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt an der Oder
- Imprint:
- March 8, 2016 - March 15, 2016
- Collection:
- Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2012
