Women's History Month: It's Who You Know And How You Connect

A look at how three ARHU professors are helping create a supportive academic environment for women.By Katelin Wangberg

A look at how three ARHU professors are helping create a supportive academic environment for women.By Katelin Wangberg

Women are on the mind. It’s Women’s History Month, a time to honor the accomplishments of women throughout history.  Often an important aspect of women’s success has been a network of supportive women around them. Here in the College of Arts & Humanities (ARHU) at the University of Maryland (UMD) the college has a history of distinguished women working together to create a supportive environment.    One new program is now adding to what the college is already doing and has made advancing women in academia their mission. The new five-year $3.2 million ADVANCE Program for Inclusive Excellence has committed to improving rates of retention and advancement of women faculty across the campus. The program is funded by UMD in partnership with the National Science Foundation. The university’s in-kind funding has expanded the ADVANCE Program to make it campus wide. Research suggests that retention rates and the advancement of women in academia improves when the university environment supplies them with a network of other supportive women. “It’s brought these women together and promotes a network on campus where junior professors wouldn’t have had time to create their own network,” ADVANCE Program Coordinator Dr. Pam Lanford said.  As part of the ADVANCE Program the fist cohort of ADVANCE Professors have been selected. They are women who have been recognized as leaders in their field. These professors are asked to help foster a positive environment for women campus wide and help create a network they can look to for guidance and support.  
 ARHU’s Martha Nell Smith, English professor, and Ruth Zambrana, women’s studies professor, are recognized as distinguished women faculty and were recently welcomed into the program. They are expected to act as mentors for junior colleagues as well as role models for all college women. Some of their responsibilities include helping colleagues develop objectives towards advancing their career, helping administration increase the use of family friendly policies, making critical career data more transparent to other faculty members, and presenting a colloquium for the University on their own research. Each new ADVANCE Professor has been awarded a $5,000 stipend and one course release from their college. ARHU has a long tradition of seeking ways to foster the growth of women in academia. One role model for women in academia in ARHU has been around for years helping create a supportive environment for her fellow female colleagues.   UMD’s Claire G. Moses, professor of women’s studies, affiliate professor of history, and editorial director of Feminist Studies discusses her 35 years of feminist scholarship, retirement, and advice for women in academia. Q: What initially drew you to women's studies and feminist study? Professor Moses: At the end of the 1960s/early 1970s, I was at one and the same time a graduate student specializing in French History and a very involved activist in what we then called the women's liberation movement. At the moment of having to select a dissertation topic, I realized that I could bring together these 2 aspects of my life by doing research and writing a history of the French feminist movement of the late 19th century.  I was energized by this project because there had actually been nothing written on the topic — ever.  Well, that's not totally true, Simone de Beauvoir, in “The Second Sex,” had devoted some limited space to that history, but it took me no time at all to discover that she had her facts wrong. So, every piece of research was a "discovery."  The downside, of course, was that it took enormous time to put together information that would have been minor facts in a history for which some research existed prior. Also, there were no mentors who knew this history who could direct me to the appropriate sources; on the other hand, there did come into being a cohort of graduate students scattered across the country who worked together and shared information — a kind of self-mentoring of what was then "the younger generation." Q: Does any specific moment stand out to you when you look back at your career as surprising?  Professor Moses: There are several "happy surprises": as I was finishing my degree, the job market was arguably the worst it has ever been and like so many of my cohort, we were considering how to find jobs outside of academe. But then this incredibly wonderful opportunity for a position in a women's studies program, that combined the editing of the journal Feminist Studies, was posted. It was so early in the existence of women's studies programs anywhere, that I'm not certain there were any such jobs available. And luckily, as it turned out, in my consideration of non-academic jobs I had done some editing, qualifying me to apply for this one.  Q: What are some of your personal highlights of your career, your proudest moments? Professor Moses: Ahhh...proudest moment...that's easy:  When my first book (which grew out of the dissertation, but was greatly expanded in the period covered) was awarded the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize for the best book published in 1984 in women's history. Also, in 2003, I was recognized as "the outstanding woman of the year," by the Women's Commission here at Maryland. It was just at the time that I was stepping down after 10 years chairing the department of women's studies and I'm certain related to the achievements of the department during that time.  In that 10 year period, we moved from a "program" to a "department” and launched our B.A. major and our M.A./Ph.D. program (among the first in the nation). Q: What are your post-retirement plans? Professor Moses: (1) There's a book on my agenda: a revising of my first book on 19th century French feminism; what I have in mind is a different kind of revision that identifies and incorporates new research on this topic since the early 1980s, but also considers the different questions and theoretical contexts in which the new research is embedded and relates this new work to shifts in feminist political concerns in the past several decades; (2) Piano lessons; (3) A lot of tango dancing! Q: What advice would you offer women today?   Professor Moses: I often find myself in the situation of offering advice, especially to women in academe.  I think the most important "advice," in fact, is for women to connect with older women who have experience in academe and are willing to share that with them in supportive ways.  And second, I would tell them to look (also) to their own cohort of women and build closely supportive networks whether focused on their research and writing, or focused on just surviving in academe (or just surviving!).  Over the years, I watched some women try to go it alone, and they've more often than not been the ones to fail.  In fact, even on this campus, I've heard from some women, over the years, that as untenured assistant professors, they were told that they should "protect" themselves by "keeping away from that women's studies crowd;" but, actually, the women who have been connected to the broader campus-wide women's studies community have fared better than the ones who isolated themselves.