Abstract An assistant professor of Anthropology and the only woman in her department when she was hired in 1968, Louise Lamphere was denied tenure in 1974. The Anthropology Department claimed that her scholarship was theoretically weak. Lamphere claimed she was the victim of sex discrimination and argued that the small number of women on the […]
Staff/Faculty
- 1950s
- ...
Arlene Elizabeth Gorton, class of 1952 (interview 1 of 2)
Abstract This interview summarizes the career of Arlene Gorton with Pembroke College and Brown University’s Athletics Departments. Gorton graduated from Pembroke College in the class of 1952, and then served as Pembroke College Director of Physical Education and Athletics, 1961–1971, and finally as the Brown University Assistant Athletic Director from 1971–1998. Gorton begins by explaining […]
Feven Teklu, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Feven Teklu, Senior Leadership Giving Officer in the Office of Advancement at Brown University, discusses her experiences as a woman of color and mother during the COVID-19 global pandemic and in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Teklu begins by sharing her personal background and talking about her childhood […]
Diane Straker, Staff
Abstract In this oral history captured over the course of four interviews, Diane Straker, the Pembroke Center’s administrative assistant, details her experiences living in various states along the eastern seaboard and in Saint Thomas, her daughter’s struggle with Crescentic Glomerulonephriris, and working at Brown University. Straker begins by discussing her family background and her early […]
Christina Smith, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Christina Smith, Associate Director for Undergraduate STEM Development at the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University, shares her experiences as a scholar and member of Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Smith begins by explaining that she first started hearing about COVID-19 during a trip to Oregon […]
Heidi Sasseville, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Heidi Sasseville, Senior Sales Clerk at the Brown University Bookstore, discusses her experiences living through the COVID-19 global pandemic. Sasseville begins by recalling that she heard about COVID-19 on the news and that changes to her day-to-day life came on suddenly. She explains that before everyone was sent home for an […]
Annalisa Heppner, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Annalisa Heppner, Project Manager for the Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Project at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University, shares her experiences working, maintaining a relationship, and protesting racial injustice, during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Heppner begins by recalling that she first started hearing about COVID-19 from her family members in […]
Rae Gould, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Rae Gould, Associate Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Brown University and member of Nipmuc Nation of Massachusetts, shares her experiences living with the COVID-19 global pandemic. Gould begins by recalling her initial thoughts on COVID-19 in March 2020. She remembers that she did not recognize it […]
Katherine Goldman, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Katherine Goldman, Center Manager of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at Brown University, discusses her experience during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as its impact on her work with immigration detention centers. Goldman begins by explaining how she first learned about COVID-19 through students and colleagues who […]
Mitchell Foster, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Mitchell Foster, a Residential Area Coordinator at Brown University, shares their experiences becoming a Brown staff member during the COVID-19 global pandemic and guiding students through increased racism against the Asian and Asian-American communities. Foster begins by explaining their upbringing in the Philippines and the ways that Filipino culture influenced their […]
Jennifer Currier, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Jennifer Currier, former Publications and Programs Coordinator for the Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Department at Brown University, discusses her experiences leading up to and participating in one of the Black Lives Matter protests in Providence, Rhode Island, following the murder of George Floyd. Currier begins by explaining her role at Brown, […]
Gail Cohee, Staff
Abstract In this two-part interview, Gail Cohee, former Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Sarah Doyle Center for Women and Gender, discusses her life in academia, women’s center work, changing circumstances at Brown during the late 2010s, and retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. She begins with an overview of her teaching in English […]
Lydia Curliss, Staff
Abstract In this interview, Lydia Curliss, Physical Sciences, and Native American and Indigenous Studies, Librarian at Brown University and member of Nipmuc Nation of Massachusetts, shares her thoughts on the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the fight for Indigenous rights. Curliss begins explaining that nobody realized they would be social distancing […]
Meera Viswanathan, Faculty
Abstract In this interview, Meera Viswanathan, then-Professor of comparative literature at Brown University, discusses emigrating from India to Los Angeles in 1961. She describes the language barrier she experienced and her process of assimilating to American life through using the English language. She explains being unable to identify with classmates in elementary school or holidays […]
Janice Vanderwater, Faculty
Abstract In this interview, Janice Vanderwater discusses her college education at Barnard College and her path to becoming the first female faculty member of the English department at Brown University, then the director of dramatics. She worked at Brown from 1940 until 1966 and she details how the campus, and her position as a faculty […]
Clarice LaVerne Thompson, Faculty
Abstract In this interview, Clarice LaVerne Thompson discusses her educational and professional path to becoming a visiting professor in Africana Studies and Music Director at Brown University, and founder of RPM Voices of Rhode Island. Thompson begins by describing her childhood and early education in Jackson, Tennessee, and Yonkers, New York. She talks about briefly […]
Karen Newman, Faculty
Abstract An assistant professor of Anthropology and the only woman in her department when she was hired in 1968, Louise Lamphere was denied tenure in 1974. The Anthropology Department claimed that her scholarship was theoretically weak. Lamphere claimed she was the victim of sex discrimination and argued that the small number of women on the […]
Philip Leis, Faculty
Abstract An assistant professor of Anthropology and the only woman in her department when she was hired in 1968, Louise Lamphere was denied tenure in 1974. The Anthropology Department claimed that her scholarship was theoretically weak. Lamphere claimed she was the victim of sex discrimination and argued that the small number of women on the […]
Louise Lamphere, Faculty
Abstract An assistant professor of Anthropology and the only woman in her department when she was hired in 1968, Louise Lamphere was denied tenure in 1974. The Anthropology Department claimed that her scholarship was theoretically weak. Lamphere claimed she was the victim of sex discrimination and argued that the small number of women on the […]
Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, Faculty
Abstract In this interview, Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, Associate Professor of Sociology at Brown University, discusses her experiences as a professor and academic navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Gonzalez Van Cleve begins by recalling her earliest memories of learning about COVID-19 and anticipating its impact on the Spring 2020 semester. She talks about assigning more readings […]
Anne Fausto-Sterling, Faculty
Abstract An assistant professor of Anthropology and the only woman in her department when she was hired in 1968, Louise Lamphere was denied tenure in 1974. The Anthropology Department claimed that her scholarship was theoretically weak. Lamphere claimed she was the victim of sex discrimination and argued that the small number of women on the […]
Wendy Edwards, Faculty
Abstract In this interview, Chair and Professor of Visual Arts, Wendy Edwards, describes her journey to becoming a professional painter and discusses her 40-year tenure at Brown University. Edwards begins by briefly mentioning her parents’ educational backgrounds and then detailing her early life living on a farm in Virginia outside of Washington, DC, and visiting […]
Helen FitzGerald Cserr, Faculty
Abstract This interview was conducted with Ruth Cserr on behalf of her mother Helen FitzGerald Cserr who was a professor of biomedical sciences at Brown University and who was one of four plaintiffs in the Louise Lamphere vs Brown University sex discrimination lawsuit. Ruth begins the interview by sharing some personal background including her education […]
Rachel Cassidy, Faculty
Abstract In this interview, Rachel Cassidy, Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University, discusses her experiences leading up to and participating in one of the Black Lives Matter protests in Providence, Rhode Island, following the murder of George Floyd. Cassidy begins by recalling when she first heard George Floyd’s name and learned […]
Elizabeth Weed, Staff
Abstract An assistant professor of Anthropology and the only woman in her department when she was hired in 1968, Louise Lamphere was denied tenure in 1974. The Anthropology Department claimed that her scholarship was theoretically weak. Lamphere claimed she was the victim of sex discrimination and argued that the small number of women on the […]