Purdue Today presenting profiles on Title IX service awardees
May 23, 2013
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX, Purdue has recognized 40 individuals with the Title IX Distinguished Service Award for their significant contributions to the advancement of gender equity in education. Profiles on the recipients will be presented in Purdue Today each month. This month features Sally Frost Mason, Tamara E. Morse, Margaret Moan Rowe, Helen Schleman and Beverley Stone.
Sally Frost Mason
Sally Frost Mason was a catalyst for creating diversity in the professional environment of Purdue.
Mason, former Purdue provost and current president of the University of Iowa, earned her Master of Science in biological sciences from Purdue in 1974. During her time as a Purdue student, Mason felt that gender-related obstacles hampered her experiences. When she returned to Purdue in a position to lead the faculty, she included correcting gender inequity as one of her principal professional goals.
During Martin Jischke's strategic expansion of faculty positions, Mason worked to increase Purdue's gender and racial diversity in the recruitment of new professors. During the increase, the pool of hired faculty members reflected a higher percentage of racial and gender diversity than the general population of Purdue faculty members.
During her tenure as provost from 2001 to 2007, Mason made measurable progress to increase the recruitment and retention of female professors at Purdue, growing the female faculty population from 22 percent in 2001 to 26 percent by 2008. At the same time, underrepresented minorities on tenure or tenure track grew from 14.1 percent to 22.3 percent.
In addition to her recruitment efforts, Mason worked to centralize diversity efforts in the Office of the Provost. By encouraging participation and partially funding efforts, she facilitated greater access to the Multicultural and Gender Diversity Forums for all colleges and schools. She also created the Diversity Leadership Group advisory board for the provost, which led to the creation of the Minority and Multicultural Program Directors. The group is a network that exchanges information among colleges and schools and meets with the vice provost for diversity and inclusion.
Tamara E. Morse
Working to maximize institutional resources, Tamara E. Morse has helped to increase access and opportunities for the women of Purdue.
Morse, owner of Morse Financial Group and former president of the Purdue Alumni Association, earned her bachelor's, master's and MBA from Purdue. She is one of only three women to serve as president of the association. Additionally, she is a member of the Purdue Foundation Development Council and chair of the Purdue Women's Archives Development Council.
Serving on the Campaign for Purdue, Women for Purdue steering committee from 2003 to 2007, Morse traveled the country to present seminars and encouraged women to contribute to Purdue. She raised a total of $15 million during her campaign. Her presentations encouraged and empowered women to become involved in philanthropy and make major financial contributions -- something that is more commonly seen coming from men or whole families.
In 2007, Morse kicked off the Purdue Alumni Association's endowment drive with a $1 million deferred gift, which will create the Tamara Morse Purdue Alumnae Leadership Initiative. The initiative will provide funding for outreach endeavors targeting Purdue alumnae and friends of the University.
While attending Purdue, Morse was a member of Delta Gamma sorority, and she served as a trustee of the sorority's foundation from 2005 to 2007. She helped to endow the Delta Gamma Lectureship in Ethics and Values at Purdue.
In 2010, Morse and her sister created the Frederick B. Morse Endowment for Cooperative Education in Mechanical Engineering in honor of their father, professor emeritus in mechanical engineering. She also has sponsored the Boilermaker Ball for five years.
In 1999, Morse was the recipient of the Krannert Distinguished Alumni Award. She was also a 2005 recipient of the College of Education's Friend of Education Award.
Margaret Moan Rowe
Margaret Moan Rowe was a founding force for the creation of women's educational courses at Purdue. She has had a longstanding commitment to improving the working conditions of women across campus.
Rowe, professor emerita of English, founded numerous programs focused on improving educational and professional opportunities for women at Purdue.
Rowe joined Purdue as an instructor in 1969 and became an assistant professor of English in 1971. In 1990, she was promoted to professor and was named the head of the English department. Later serving as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and as vice provost for the University, Rowe used her professional influence to encourage equality for women at Purdue.
In 1988, Rowe was an organizing member of the Council on the Status of Women at Purdue, which has been an instrumental group in the effort for salary equality for women at the University. The Council on the Status of Women was formed to create a voice for women at Purdue by studying existing university practices and procedures and women's professional concerns.
Along with pushing for professional equality, Rowe has advocated opening doors for academic endeavors in women's and gender studies, and she was a pioneer in the development of Purdue's Women's Studies Program. In 1973, Rowe co-taught the first women's studies course at Purdue, and she succeeded in making a women in literature course available in the Department of English. Rowe co-taught the first women in literature course in 1975.
Rowe's influence reaches beyond her curricular work, as she served as a mentor for numerous students.
Nalini Iyer, PhD graduate from Purdue and professor of Asian studies, English and women and gender studies at Seattle University, wrote, "Margaret Rowe became my role model and helped me, as a woman, find my voice as a scholar and a teacher."
Rowe received the Purdue Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1990, and she is listed in Purdue's Book of Great Teachers.
Helen Schleman
Helen Schleman's work at Purdue influenced changes in the treatment of women on campus and encouraged married women to pursue an education.
Schleman first served Purdue in 1934 as the director of the first women's residence hall, shortly after women were permitted to live in on-campus housing.
Leaving the University to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve during World War II, Schleman advanced to the rank of captain and earned the Navy Commendation Medal. Additionally, she was appointed to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services and served on the commission to write "American Women," a report under President John F. Kennedy. She served in the Coast Guard for four years before retuning to Purdue in 1947 as Dorothy Stratton's successor as dean of women.
In her position, Schleman followed Stratton's efforts toward enabling and empowering women at Purdue. Schleman created a conference program for freshman women and worked to encourage women to pursue scientific fields.
Additionally, Schleman introduced and fought for the elimination of the women's curfew. Through her service in the Coast Guard, Schleman had realized that women were capable of taking care of themselves without restrictions, and she fought for the removal of the 10:30 p.m. limit. However, she was met with firm disagreement from her colleagues, and the idea she introduced in the early 1950s was not put in place until 1966.
Retiring from her position as dean of women in 1968, Schleman founded the Span Plan Adult Student Services Program, which encourages and provides support for nontraditional students at Purdue. The program stemmed from Schleman's concern for the wives of Purdue students -- she found that many of the women were not pursuing an education, and they frequently became divorced from their educated spouses. In creating Span Plan, she encouraged women to pursue a degree to advance their own lives and supported all adults taking a nontraditional approach to education.
Schleman Hall, home to several of Purdue's offices that provide student services, is named in her honor. Additionally, an award in her honor is presented to qualifying nontraditional students. Mortar Board presents the Helen B. Schleman Gold Medallion to men or women faculty members who reflect the goals of the former dean.
Schleman received the Title IX Distinguished Service Award posthumously.
Beverley Stone
Known for her pioneer position as the first dean of students, Beverley Stone served as an advocate for women's and student's rights at Purdue.
During World War II, Stone served as an officer of the U.S. Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) from 1943 to 1946. She continued her service during the Korean War from 1950 to 1952, before retiring with the rank of lieutenant commander.
Before and after her naval service, Stone worked in education -- first as a high school teacher, and later as an assistant professor and counselor. Prior to coming to Purdue, she was a member of the dean of women's staff, then dean of women from 1954 to 1955 at the University of Arkansas.
Stone's Purdue career began in 1956, when she served the Office of the Dean of Women in a number of capacities and advised student organizations such as Purdue Student Government, Panhellenic Association, Mortar Board and Old Masters Central Committee. In 1971, Stone chaired a university committee studying equal employment opportunities for women at Purdue and worked to correct a number of inequalities. Throughout her career, she was a member of the Purdue Women's Caucus and the Purdue Women's Club, and she was the first female member of Iron Key at Purdue.
In 1974, when the Dean of Women and Dean of Men offices were to be combined, Stone fought to ensure that a qualified female would not be overlooked for the position due to gender. As a result, Stone was named Purdue's first dean of students, and she was the first woman to hold the position at a Big Ten University.
In the same year as her promotion, Stone co-authored a monograph with Barbara Cook titled "Counseling Women." The book covers the history of the feminist movement and the rights of women as well as provides guidance on counseling women and aiding in career development.
The Beverley Stone Award was created in her honor and is given to those who have demonstrated outstanding service in counseling at Purdue.
Stone retired from Purdue in 1980 and received the Title IX Outstanding Achievement Award posthumously.
* Profiles on Laura Reasoner Jones, Dorothy Leland, Joan Marshall, Robert Ringel and Carolyn Peck
* Profiles on Zenephia Evans, Mary Harrison Ford, Monica Gary, LaNelle Geddes and Eva Goble
* Profiles on Nancy Cross, Jane Zimmer Daniels, Carol Dewey, Carol Ecker and Barbara Edmondson
* Profiles on Evelyn Blackwood, Roger Blalock, Beth Brooke, Morgan Burke and Susan Bulkeley Butler
