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A Decade of Mentoring Female Chemistry and Biochemistry
Majors into Academic Careers
Maureen Kendrick Murphy* and Doba D. Jackson, *Chair-Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Huntingdon
College, 1500 East Fairview Ave., Montgomery, AL 36106-2148 maureenm@huntingdon.edu
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data for this presentation were taken from enrollment figures from the Office of
the Registrar at Huntingdon College, and from departmental class rolls and
graduation programs from 1999-2010. Number and gender of majors from the
classes of 2011, 2012,and 2013 were taken from the advising database at
Huntingdon College. Placement of women students in Ph. D. programs was
tracked yearly by the department chair. Academic positions of women alumni in
chemistry and biochemistry was verified through the Office of Alumni Affairs and
the department chair.
RESULTS
DATA AND GRAPHS RESULTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the National Science Foundation-supported ADVANCE
Auburn “Small Wins” program for sponsoring the workshop for this
presentation.
REFERENCES CITED
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A decade of mentoring Huntingdon female chemistry and
biochemistry majors into full-time academic positions is
reviewed with respect to a “jump-start” program. The
“jump-start” program at Huntingdon is one in which
Huntingdon female chemistry and biochemistry majors are
directly recruited as juniors or first-semester seniors from
outstanding high schools in the state, advised into the
most advanced and intensive curriculum during their first
year at Huntingdon, and accelerated in their career with
respect to early research participation, publication, and
presentation at professional meetings. Some of the goals
of the “jump start” program are to increase the number of
women in academic chemistry and science positions in the
U.S. and to accelerate women’s quest to tenure.
Huntingdon College was chartered on February 2, 1854, as
"Tuskegee Female College" by the Alabama State Legislature
and Governor John A. Winston. In 1872 the name was changed
to "Alabama Conference Female College" as it is now affiliated
with the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United
Methodist Church. A decision was made in the late 19th
century to move the campus to a larger city. The college,
renamed the "Woman's College of Alabama" relocated in 1910
to a 58 acre area in the Cloverdale section of Montgomery.
The college admitted its first male student in 1934 and changed
its name the next year to Huntingdon College in honor of
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, a notable supporter of
Methodism in Great Britain.
Since its inception, the
training of
Huntingdon women
in the basic
sciences has been a
key part of
a Huntingdon degree.
Historically,
Huntingdon College has always
graduated a large number of women
chemistry majors [1]. Today, more than
65% of the 75 chemistry and biochemistry
majors at Huntingdon are women [2].
Since 1983, Huntingdon College has
hired full-time women
Ph.D. faculty in its Department of
Chemistry.
In 2005, the department
added a biochemistry major.
Dr. Maureen K. Murphy
(Huntingdon Chemistry, Class of
1978) has served as Chair of
the Department of Chemistry &
Biochemistry for the past six
years, and is one of three full-
time professors of chemistry hired at
Huntingdon since 1998.
The most recent annual survey (2009-2010) of chemistry departments [3] reveals that
women now comprise 17% of chemistry department faculty amongst the 50 U.S.
chemistry departments that spend the most on research.
Huntingdon Women Majors in Chemistry &
Biochemistry
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Graduation Year 1999-2013
NumberofWomenChemistry&
BiochemistryMajors
Number of Huntingdon Women Chemistry & Biochemistry
Majors with Chemistry/Biochemistry Ph.D.s or in Ph.D.
Programs
TOTAL=16 in Ten Year Period
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Graduation Year, 1999-2010
NumberofWomen
Dr. Christine R. Whitlock
Professor & Assistant Chair
Department of Chemistry
Georgia Southern University
Organic Chemistry
B.A. Huntingdon College
Ph.D. The University of Alabama
E-mail: cwhitlock@georgiasouthern.edu
Dr. Carolyn Simmons
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
Spring Hill College
Analytical Chemistry
B.A. Huntingdon College
Ph.D. Florida State University
E-mail: csimmons@shc.edu
1. Office of Assessment & Institutional Research, Huntingdon College
2. Huntingdon Department of Chemistry enrollment records,
Office of the Registrar, 2009-2010.
3. Linda R. Raber, Chemical & Engineering News, Vol.88, no. 9,
March 1, 2010, pages 42-43.
Grad. Year Name Ph.D. or M.S. Academic
Position
1999 Cynthia Sales M.S. UNC-
Greensboro
Rutgers-New
Brunswick-Asst.
Prof.
2000 Amanda Taylor
Nakima Vizier
M.A.T. Lewis &
Clark College
M.S. Indiana.
Portland City
Schools, Oregon
St. Mary’s Notre
Dame-Asst. Prof.
2001 Carolyn Simmons
Heather Fuller
Ph.D. Florida State
J.D. Washington
Univ.-St. Louis,
MO
Asst. Prof.
Chemistry-Spring
Hill College,
Mobile, AL
Women and the
Law Professor-U.
Houston
2002 Joni Bettis M.S. Troy
University
High School
Teacher-Gadsden
City Schools, AL
2004 Amanda Ousley Ph.D. Georgia
Institute of
Technology
High School
Teacher in area
2005 Leah Cuthriell
Leah Nesbitt
M.S. Univ. Tenn.
Ph.D. Univ.
Cincinnatti
Medical Center
High School
Teacher-Memphis,
TN
Postodoctoral
Fellow in
Immunobiology
2006 Audrey Krumbach D.Div. Candler
School of Theology
Asst. Prof. Oxford
College (GA)
2007 Shannon Cheney M.S. AUM UMS-Wright
Preparatory
School, Mobile, AL
2008 Rachel McKinney Ph.D. Duke Univ. In graduate school
2009 Felecia Gulledge M.S. in progress High School
Teacher-Hewitt-
Trussville, AL
2010 Angelica Julian M.S. Forensic
Science-Univ. New
Haven
In graduate school
Percentage Women Chemistry & Biochemistry Majors
Huntingdon College 1999-2013, MEAN=65%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Year of Graduation, 1999-2013
PercentageWomen
Majors
Chelley Lawson (Biochem., Class of
2013) presents research with
biochemistry professor Dr. Doba
Jackson at the 2010 Alabama Academy
of Sciences meeting in Huntsville, AL.
“JUMP START” Program for Women Majors in the
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
1. Meet FY students at summer orientation; register for Gen.
Chem., labs, and Calculus I, if possible. Introduce students
to possible research projects.
2. Recruit women from outstanding high schools.
3. Monitor academic progress closely. Encourage women to
apply to DOE Nuclear Summer School, the Post-
Baccalaureate Program at Los Alamos National Lab,
summer NSF-REU sponsored research and other summer
research experiences.
4. Enroll students in Chem 385:Research in Chemistry &
Biochemistry in junior year; carefully select project and
have students ready to present at a local, state, and/or
national meetings. Submit suitable research for
publication.
5. Take students on tours of Ph.D. programs (Indiana Univ.,
Tulane Univ., Univ. Memphis, Vanderbilt Univ.); mentor
through application process. Follow Ph.D. progress and
mentor throughout. Help with postdoctoral/first academic
appointment applications. Continue mentoring process
through first teaching position and tenure and promotion.
Serve as external tenure/promotion reviewer.
13 First-Year Huntingdon Women Chemistry & Biochemistry
Majors Entering the “Jump-Start” Program During
2009-2010
Caroline Baldwin Brittney Calma Nicole Dansereau Paige Lathem Tori McNeal
Bryanna Page Rami Herrera Bailey Hales Amberly Dearmon Angelica Edwards
Cristin Buentello Victoria Hurd Chasity Ward
Chemistry majors present research
at the 2010 Research & Creative
Activity and Nano-Biology
Symposium, ASU.
Dr. Maureen Murphy and students at the 2nd
Annual White Coat Ceremony
at Huntingdon to present white laboratory coats to new first-year majors
and seniors in October 2009.
Women chemistry/biochemistry majors with graduate degrees 1999-2010. This
group represents 24.6% of all majors during this period. The majority of women
in our program enter professional schools in the health sciences, especially
Pharm.D. programs.
SOME HUNTINGDON ALUMNI WHO SERVE AS WOMEN
CHEMISTRY PROFESSORS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S.