“Women of Substance National Women’s History Project Honors Those Who Formed a More Perfect Union” —guest post by author Angie Klink

March 31st, 2016

The Hamilton Live, an event venue in Washington, D.C., assumed a vibration of a higher order on March 19, 2016. The softly lit, lower-level space located two blocks from the White House hummed with a palpable energy, and it is only when I look back on the experience that I feel fully its life-altering import. The verve that day was set high on the shoulders of history—the past stories of our nation that formed a more perfect union. And that esteemed history was entirely female.

The National Women’s History Project (NWHP) hosted a luncheon to celebrate National Women’s History Month and honor sixteen women who exemplified the 2016 theme, “Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.” Honorees were selected from a pool of more than 70 candidates. I nominated Captain Dorothy C. Stratton, about whom I wrote in my book, The Deans’ Bible: Five Purdue Women and their Quest for Equality, published by Purdue University Press. Following a four-ballot selection process, the NWHP board of directors selected Stratton.

Stratton was Purdue University’s first full-time dean of women from 1933-1942. She took a leave of absence from Purdue to serve in World War II as the director of the Women’s Reserve of the United States Coast Guard, which she ingeniously named SPARs from the coast guard motto, Semper Paratus—Latin for Always Ready.

The nautical meaning of SPAR relates to a supporting beam of a ship. The coast guard women were just that—a support—as they took over the men’s stateside military jobs, so the men could go overseas for combat duty. When the war ended in 1947, 11,000 SPARs had served under Stratton’s leadership.

In 2012 First Lady Michelle Obama commissioned a coast guard cutter in honor of Stratton. It was the first time in history that a Legend-class National Security Cutter was named after a woman, and the first time that a first lady sponsored a military ship. Today, the Cutter Stratton protects America’s shoreline.

In the 1941 Purdue University yearbook, the Debris, Dean of Women Stratton, age forty-one, was quoted: “To be interesting, do interesting things.” Stratton lived to be 107, fully living out her mantra. She passed away in 2006. When the war ended, Stratton became the director of personnel for the International Monetary Fund. Through the 1950s, she was the executive director of the Girl Scouts of America. She then served as the representative for the International Federation of University Women at the United Nations. Stratton most certainly worked to form a more perfect union through her efforts in public service and government.

Nine of the NWHP 2016 National Women’s History Month honorees are living and most attended the luncheon to accept their acclaim. Their presence and words at the podium created an atmosphere that buoyed the audience.

Two of the elder honorees inched across the stage pushing walkers. We soon learned they were not frail flowers. When they spoke at the lectern, their strong voices and powerful declarations of gratitude were a juxtaposition—a lesson against judging a woman by her cover and an admonition against ageism.

Honoree Sister Mary Madonna Ashton, age ninety-two, is the former Minnesota Commissioner of Health who helped pass landmark legislation outlawing smoking in public places. Testifying for days against the tobacco industry, her success on behalf of the state of Minnesota started a nationwide movement. She also addressed the AIDS epidemic, forcing the closure of bathhouses where the disease was spread and instituting mandatory protections of the community’s blood supply.

Astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, age ninety, was the first executive at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and is known as the “Mother of Hubble” for her contributions to establish the Hubble Space Telescope. Roman’s career was groundbreaking as a woman scientist. She discovered the first clues to the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy, mapped the sky at 67 centimeters, and helped improve the accuracy of measurements to the distance of the moon.

Sonia Pressman Fuentes, age eighty-seven, was a cofounder of the National Organization for Women and the first woman attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). She articulated and enforced the EEOC’s interpretation of the sex discrimination prohibitions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Fuentes had immigrated to the United States as a child to escape the Holocaust.

Honoree Bernice Sandler is the “Godmother of Title IX.” She also coined the term “chilly climate.” Despite holding a doctorate degree, Sandler was unable to obtain a full-time faculty position because of the sexism facing women in academia in the 1960s. Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in employment based on sex, it excluded educational institutions. Using an obscure executive order prohibiting sex discrimination by federal contractors, Sandler filed the first federal sex discrimination lawsuits against every college with federal contracts, about 250 in all. This lawsuits drew the attention of Congresswoman Edith Green, who assembled the first congressional hearing on sex discrimination in education and employed Sandler as an expert. The idea for a law banning sex discrimination in federally funded education programs was born. Title IX was signed into law in 1972.

Among the women who were honored posthumously were Daisy Bates, the civil rights organizer and leader of the Little Rock School integration in 1957, and Oveta Culp Hobby, the World War II director of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) and first secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Hobby was a peer and friend of Stratton.

Photos of the honorees appear on a commemorative poster and their stories are written down in the NWHP Gazette, available for purchase on the NWHP website for individuals, educators, and groups to recognize and celebrate women’s historical contributions.

More than 300 women have been honored by the NWHP since its inception in 1980. Many of the women selected have been outliers. They courageously stood apart from the milquetoast crowd and the status quo. By following their inner callings, they changed social stereotypes, cultural pressures, discriminatory attitudes, and civil injustices. Each woman bucked some sort of system and won—perhaps not a victory for her immediate private ambition—but, like a New World explorer, a triumph that would be realized in the distance where the next wave of female foot soldiers would trek.

Each NWHP honoree changed perceptions of women’s capabilities. She whittled out new pathways for the downtrodden. She invented. She created. She changed laws. She changed attitudes. She changed herself. She changed America.

Of course, all that change was not easy. Change never is.

Thank you to the National Women’s History Project for writing women back into history. When women’s history is told on equal footing to that of men’s, then we, indeed, form a more perfect union. It’s a vibration of a higher order.

How National Women’s History Month Began

Molly Murphy MacGregor, executive director and cofounder of the National Women’s History Project, was a key force in establishing March as National Women’s History Month. When MacGregor was a California high school teacher in 1972, a student asked about the women’s movement. Having no answer, MacGregor was spurred to educate herself about women’s history, but she was shocked to find no suitable sources.

In 1978, MacGregor and others on the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women created National Women’s History Week for the county.

The week of March 8 was chosen because that date is International Women’s Day. The following year, MacGregor participated in a women’s history institute at Sarah Lawrence College. MacGregor shared the story of Sonoma’s women’s history week, and other women at the conference were inspired to create a women’s history week in their own communities.

Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week. In 1987, galvanized by the fact that fourteen states had already declared March as National Women’s History Month, MacGregor and other women lobbied Congress to declare March, nationwide, as National Women’s History Month.

For a full list of 2016 National Women’s History Month honorees, see the NWHP website.

Video: “Dorothy Stratton & the Spars: The Legend Continues” by Ed Metz https://vimeo.com/14188229

The Deans’ Bible Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh7Pb6RUVUk

Former Purdue Dean of Women Honored in D.C., WLFI TV-18 http://wlfi.com/2016/03/20/former-purdue-dean-of-women-honored-in-d-c/

Wilmeth Active Learning Center on schedule

March 29th, 2016

Wilmeth Active Learning Center is on schedule to open for the 2017 fall semester to all of campus.

The center, located in the heart of the West Lafayette campus, will serve as a central location for classroom and library space. The 164,000-square-foot facility will house 26 rooms designed for active learning, a pedagogical approach that aims to achieve a greater student-centered learning environment by incorporating active and collaborative learning.

The classrooms will become study spaces after classes end, featuring an atrium looking out at the Bell Tower, as well as a full-service Au Bon Pain café and bakery.

“In planning for the center, Purdue University Libraries faculty and staff have brought learning design expertise based on the creation and success of current active learning classrooms,” said Tomalee Doan, associate dean of academic affairs in Purdue Libraries. “We have worked collaboratively with key campus entities in creating this new integrated classroom and study space.

“In addition, Libraries faculty, including Michael Fosmire, professor of library science and physical sciences, technology and engineering division head, and Vicki Killion, associate professor and division head in life sciences, were on the planning committee to create this new space that facilitates formal and informal learning. This will truly be a student-centered space with a variety of activities, events and versatile spaces open to all students on campus.”

Six University library divisions, their collections, new technology and active-learning classrooms will come together in the center. The six are Chemistry; Engineering; Life Sciences; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences; and Physics.

As essential study hubs, the remaining library divisions will stay open. That list includes the Archives and Special Collections; the Humanities, Social Science and Education Library; Hicks Undergraduate Library; Mathematical Sciences Library; Aviation Technology Library; Veterinary Medical Library; and Parrish Library of Management and Economics.

For more information, contact Doan at 765-496-2261 or tdoan@purdue.edu, or visit www.lib.purdue.edu/adv/alc.

Purdue Libraries to host ‘Auto Indiana’ exhibit

March 25th, 2016

Purdue University Libraries will be hosting the Indiana Historical Society exhibition, Auto Indiana, from April 1, 2016 to May 1, 2016 in Hicks Undergraduate Library.  The Auto Indiana exhibit will take visitors on a ride through Indiana’s rich automotive past as they discover the Hoosier State’s prolific contributions.

From inventors and innovators like Elwood Haynes and Ralph Teetor to automakers like Studebaker and Duesenberg, Indiana has left an indelible mark on the industry for more than a century—and vice versa.  The exhibit illuminates ties between the automobiles and the development of many other economic opportunities for the “Crossroads of America,” such as the iron, steel and glass businesses. It also explores how the automobile became part of American Dream and popular culture, from movies to making personal memories.

In addition to the exhibit, the library is hosting the following presentations:

The Sports Car: A Transnational History, by Keenan J. Shimko, teaching assistant, department of history, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University. The presentation will be held in Hicks Undergraduate Library, Room G980D on Wednesday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m.

The Automobile & Cultural Transformation, by David Cambron, teaching assistant, department of history, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University. . The presentation will be held in Hicks Undergraduate Library, Room G959 on Thursday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m.

All presentations are free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served.

About the Indiana Historical Society:

A private, nonprofit membership organization, IHS maintains the nation’s premier research library and archives on the history of Indiana and the Old Northwest and presents a unique set of visitor experiences called the Indiana Experience. IHS also provides support and assistance to local museums and historical groups; publishes books and periodicals; sponsors teacher workshops; produces and hosts art exhibitions, museum theater, and outside performance groups; and provides youth, adult and family programs.  For more information, please visit their website at www.indianahistory.org.

Related web links:

Purdue University Libraries – www.lib.purdue.edu

Indiana Historical Society – www.indianahistory.org

Contact: Ann O’Donnell, Hicks Undergraduate Library, 765-496-1498, atodonne@purdue.edu

Source: Shannon Walker, director of strategic communication, 765-496-9610, walker81@purdue.edu

Parrish Library Database of the Week: AGRICOLA from the National Agricultural Library, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

March 21st, 2016

Welcome to Database of the Week, a feature from the Parrish Library. Each of these weekly snapshots will give you a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of our specialized subscription databases. This week’s database is AGRICOLA from the National Agricultural Library, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Link: http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/businessdatabases is the alphabetical list of the databases specially selected for those in a business program of study. Access the databases off-campus with your Purdue login and password.

Focus: AGRICOLA serves as the catalog and index to the collections of the National Agricultural Library, as well as a primary public source for worldwide access to agricultural information.

Search: AGRICOLA allows you to search using limits such as language, target audience, type of publication, and years of publication. It also offers a Full Text option; be aware that AGRICOLA offers few full test articles. Another useful feature of this database is that you can see your search history and combine searches.

Click here to see the basics of searching AGRICOLA or try our Guide on the Side with this link.

Why you should know this database: ARGICOLA covers materials in all formats and periods, including printed works from as far back as the 15^th century. Topics covered by this database include all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines such as animal and veterinary sciences, entomology, plant sciences, and forestry.

Why students should know this database: The AGRICOLA list of results shows an option to Find Similar for each title. The filters and tools provided by AGRICOLA simplify the search process making it easier for students to find what they need.

Cost: $2807.00 paid annually by the Purdue University Libraries.

Database of the Week comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu.  Also let us know if you know of a colleague who would benefit from this weekly feature.

Since usage statistics are an important barometer when databases are up for renewal, tell us your favorite database, and we will gladly promote it. Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu

Outage notice: Google Scholar

March 17th, 2016

Purdue Libraries links from Google Scholar are currently unavailable. We are actively working on resolving the issue. At this time, we have an estimated resolution date of 3/23/16. In the meantime we suggest using Libraries Search.

AccessEngineering Database Access to Cease on April 30, 2016

March 15th, 2016

As part of the Libraries annual review of databases, AccessEngineering has been recommended for cancellation by the subject specialist librarians. Access will cease April 30, 2016.

Please contact Anna Seiffert, Electronic Resources Manager, with comments.

Hicks Card Swipe Access Unavailable beginning Friday, March 18 at 5 p.m.

March 15th, 2016

Due to a scheduled outage, there will be no PUID Card Swipe Access to Hicks Undergraduate Library from 5:00 p.m. Friday March 18 through 1:00 p.m. Sunday March 20.   Normal hours resume at 1:00 pm Sunday, March 20.

The Libraries hours website has been updated to reflect this change.

Dr. George Kuh to present ‘Making Learning Relevant: Creating Meaningful Student Engagement’ – April 6, 2016

March 10th, 2016

Additional Information
Contact Information: http://www.purdue.edu/impact/contact.php
To Register: https://www.eventreg.purdue.edu/conf/CourseListing.aspx?master_id=5008&master_version=1&course_area=1530&course_number=121&course_subtitle=00

Sponsoring Organization: IMPACT
Website Address: http://www.purdue.edu/impact/

Purdue Libraries Faculty Member Recognized as Collaborator on Award-winning Project

March 10th, 2016

The Veterinary Medicine Section of the Medical Library Association will receive the MLA Section Project of the Year award at the 2016 annual meeting May 15-18 for Promoting and Advocating for the Profession: Creating a Multi-Faceted Illustrated History of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section (VMLS) and Its Impact. Gretchen Stephens, associate professor and veterinary medicine liaison, health & life sciences, Purdue University Libraries, was the section archivist and a collaborator on the project. It is described in the following publication:

Purdue University Libraries Resource Spotlight: Biomedical and Life Sciences Collection (Henry Stewart talks)

March 8th, 2016