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2019 Smathers Libraries Strategic Opportunities Grant PROJECT PROPOSAL NARRATIVE and BUDGET NARRATIVE

Oral History of Women in Science in the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Project team: Michelle M. Nolan (MSL), Paul Ortiz (SPOHP), E. Haven Hawley (SASC), Karina A.

Vado (Dept. of English), Deborah Hendrix (SPOHP), Tamarra Jenkins (SPOHP) PROPOSAL NARRATIVE (maximum 4 pages, single spaced) a) Project Description

While scientific literature preserves data and discoveries that arise as the end products of

scientific research, little is documented of the lived experiences of the scientists behind the work. For every published scientific report, there are countless stories of personal struggle and triumph in terms of daily laboratory work, navigating the scientific community, leaps of creativity, and more which are typically lost from history. Additionally, there is a growing body of literature to support what minoritized scientists have always known: persistent institutional sexism, racism, and other oppressive power systems obstruct innumerable scientists from progressing in their careers due to bias at every stage, including mentorship, hiring, pay, publishing, collaboration, and tenure.

It is vital to document and preserve the untold stories of women in science both for the historical record and to draw critical attention to institutional oppression in academic science fields. As a new collaborative endeavor between Marston Science Library and the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP), this project aims to record and promote the living histories of women science professors in the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) in a new collection. In particular, the proposal team will use oral history interviews to center the experiences of academic scientists living at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities, such as gender, race, ethnicity, ability, and socioeconomic background. We request funds of $4,757 to hire an OPS student researcher to serve on our project team as an investigator and interviewer. Specific objectives in the proposed work include the following:

1. Perform six oral history interviews with women science faculty in UF CLAS, including transcription of the interview and entry into the UF Digital Collections (UFDC).

2. Develop an online library guide to showcase the collection of Oral History of Women in Science interviews for easy access to the public, including curating relevant interviews from the existing oral history archive.

3. Create of two podcast episodes using recorded audio files for broadcast on WUFT radio to ensure dissemination of the scientists’ stories beyond the university.

The library guide and digital collection to be built in the long term will be titled Oral History of Women in Science and will include oral history interviews from women with a broad range of identities. The project team will search the existing oral history archives in the UFDC for relevant interviews to include in the guide. For the purposes of new content creation, the investigating team will prioritize interviewing marginalized women faculty in science to ensure their stories are represented in the greater collection. During the funding period, we will research and solicit participation from women of color and/or LGBTQ+ women professors.

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b) Project Importance

The underrepresentation of women in science exists at all career stages but is particularly egregious at the faculty level. In a 2008 National Science Foundation survey of science and engineering faculty, white women accounted for 26.1% of tenure-track faculty members in STEM and women of color accounted for only 2.3% (Ginther and Kahn 2013). Many science departments fail to look inward at the institutional forces of sexism and racism in their own recruitment, retention, and promotion of women faculty members. Research has shown that this problem is intensified by the fact that scientists perceive their fields to be highly meritocratic, leading them to reinforce current paradigms and perpetrate discrimination, rather than challenge present norms (Castilla and Benard 2010). Women who do obtain tenure-track faculty positions in science face departmental climates which are often hostile or even antagonizing. An extensive technical report on bias against women of color professors in STEM found that of sixty professors who participated, all of them experienced gendered bias in the workplace, and the ways these biases manifested themselves were highly racialized. For example, Asian American women faced the highest expectation to act traditionally feminine, Black women reported having to repeatedly prove their competence to fellow faculty members, and Latinas were expected to take on office housework by both colleagues and students (J. C. Williams, Phillips, and Hall 2014). This report was the first to interrogate sexism in the sciences as experienced by professors who are women of color. The authors identified these significant trends in experiences through interviews with open-ended questions, exemplifying the power of how personal stories can draw attention to pervasive cultural patterns.

Oral history methodology uses structured interviews to capture aspects of history that otherwise may not enter the historical record from the perspectives of narrators in their own voices. As such, oral history is uniquely positioned as a social justice tool because interviews can be used to elevate marginalized voices and experiences. The Women in Science oral history project will serve as a mechanism to uncover stories regarding the lives of women researchers at UF, both in their capacities as scientists and as people with rich personal experiences. On the individual level, each interview will illustrate these scientists’ personalities, celebrate their scholarly accomplishments, and commemorate their resiliency. However, rather than to romanticize and tokenize individuals who have “overcome” systematic discrimination on their pathway to success, the compiled collection of oral histories will emphasize cultural and institutional oppression in scientific fields and critically interrogate the ways in which academic scientists are marginalized at the micro and macro-levels. The proposed work will address several of the 2018 Strategic Directions outlined by the Libraries. The inherent value of collecting oral histories of women in science is that the preservation of their stories and elevation of their voices advance a mission of social justice on campus. By hearing the experiences of interviewed scientists here at UF, the Libraries will gain a better understanding of the particular needs for women in science, both at the faculty and student level. This knowledge will inform best practices for ensuring the Libraries are a supportive advocate to women STEM, both in-house and to the rest of the UF community. (Strategic Direction 4 – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.) This insight may also allow us to identify unique needs and services to provide women researchers in STEM, leading to improved subject liaison services. (Strategic Direction 1 – Library Instruction, Consultation, and Liaison Services.)

Finally, the proposed project is a new research collaboration between the Libraries and SPOHP to create and share knowledge about the lives of women in science with the rest of the UF community and the greater public. Beyond serving as experts in the preservation of oral history archives, this project will embed librarians in the research process itself. Haven Hawley’s scholarly expertise in the history of science and technology and Michelle Nolan’s recent experience as a doctoral graduate in chemistry at UF will both provide unique perspectives to this

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highly interdisciplinary effort. Karina Vado is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English with research interests at the intersection of critical (mixed) race studies, science fiction studies, and science and technology studies. As a student investigator on the project, she will serve as the interviewer of the oral history project. The librarians and Karina will identify candidates to interview, research their backgrounds, and prepare interview objectives as a team. Paul Ortiz and the SPOHP investigators will use their extensive oral history expertise to oversee the interview process, submit the interview materials to the UFDC for preservation, and edit audio files into two podcast episodes for wide dissemination. (Strategic Direction 5 – Transformative Collaboration.)

c) Innovative Components

Oral history is an excellent method for documenting the unseen life behind published scientific

work and understanding the context of scientific breakthroughs. However, very few oral history investigations are dedicated exclusively to the oral histories of scientists. Two notable centers that do related work are 1) the Center for Oral History at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, and 2) the ScienceMakers project by the HistoryMakers research center in Chicago.

The Science History Institute conducts oral history interviews to better understand the roles of scientists in how their discoveries were made, how different techniques and technology changed scientific work, how industrial science affected communities, and more. Their focus is largely on the scientific process itself and how individual people play a role in discovery. HistoryMakers is dedicated to gathering and preserving the living histories of African Americans in order to create a more inclusive record of American history. As part of a National Science Foundation funded grant, they sought out interviews with prominent Black scientists and engineers nationwide and host the videos in a publicly accessible collection called the ScienceMakers.

Our proposal is unique in that we wish to specifically document marginalized voices of women faculty in science at UF. On top of the opportunity to highlight the works and lives of our colleagues for the historical record, the larger body of oral histories will be framed to turn a critical eye upon the oppressions of the academy and the scientific community. We are also interested in exploring the notion that doing STEM research is itself a form of doing social justice work for women whose very existence in science is an act of resistance. How do the positionalities of women in science, particularly for women of color, affect their approaches to scientific research? To the best knowledge of the proposers, no previous projects have looked into oral history of science with this framework.

d) Comparison with Other Academic Libraries

Many academic libraries on campuses with oral history programs serve as experts in archiving

and management of oral history digital collections at the completion of the work. In the proposed work, the Libraries will additionally be represented as scholars embedded in the research process itself. As discussed in the above section, we are not aware of any existing projects pursuing similar research on women in science through oral history at other institutions.

e) Library Resources Committed to the Project

Library resources dedicated will include labor: 5% effort from Michelle Nolan and 1% effort

from Haven Hawley. Recording equipment used for audio of the interviews are property of SPOHP and will be handled by the team conducting the interviews.

f) Timeline and Plan of Action

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The investigators will prioritize interviews with women of color and/or LGBTQ+ women scientists in UF CLAS, with special consideration for the perspectives of women who have seen social changes in their fields during their careers. Because we are interested in interviewing women with visible and invisible marginalized identities, the project team will identify interview candidates through a combination of UF departmental websites and personal networks. The investigating team will actively seek interviews from scientists from a variety of backgrounds in order to examine women in science through an intersectional lens.

Because of the sensitive nature of the experiences the project seeks to document, we want to ensure that we have properly researched candidates and engaged them in conversation about the vision and purpose of the oral history collection before asking for a confirmation of participation. The top priority throughout the interviewing process will be to ensure the comfort of participants sharing stories from their lives. The team will engage in an open dialogue with potential interviewees about their willingness to describe personal experiences in the academy in the context of their scientific work during the planning phase of the project. Using these initial conversations and the project team’s research on the narrators’ backgrounds, a tailored interview plan will be developed for each interviewee. By shaping an individualized interview plan for each participant (rather than using a standardized set of questions), we will capture particular lived experiences for the scientific history record.

Timeline of project during the funding window of 7/1/2019 – 7/1/2020:

Time Period Project Objectives

July-Aug. 2019 Survey the existing oral history archives in the UFDC and curate a list of interviews with women in science (Nolan)

Aug. 2019 Identify, research, and contact women to interview (Nolan, Hawley, Vado)

Sept. 2019 Training of interviewer (Vado) and design of interview questions (Nolan, Hawley, Vado)

Oct.-Dec. 2019 Perform three oral history interviews with transcriptions for entry into the UFDC (Vado, SPOHP team)

Jan.-April 2020 Perform three oral history interviews with transcriptions for entry into the UFDC (Vado, SPOHP team)

May 2020 Create two podcast episodes from the collected interview audio to air on WUFT Radio (SPOHP team)

May-June 2020 Creation of a LibGuide as part of Marston Science Library’s website to showcase and disseminate the collected interviews and podcasts (Nolan)

July 2020 Work with UF Libraries Communications and Social Media to promote the finished project to the greater public (Nolan)

g) Copyright and Ownership

Recorded interview audio files and transcripts will be publicly accessible and housed in the

Samuel Proctor Oral History Program Digital Collection. Permissions documentation and submission of the materials will be handled by SPOHP staff according to their standardized protocols, which are discussed on the SPOHP website.

h) Expected Results, Final Product, and Projected Use

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The completed, successful project will yield the following deliverables: 1) Audio recordings and transcripts of six oral history interviews, 2) a library guide page showcasing the newly recorded oral histories along with relevant oral history transcriptions form the SPOHP Digital Collections, and 3) two podcast episodes created by the SPOHP team for public dissemination. In order to monitor the progress along the way and adhere to the proposed timeline, the PI will regularly check in with other members of the project team and offer assistance as needed to ensure timely progress.

We project that the final collection of oral histories will be of great interest to the Libraries, the university, and the greater scientific community for a number of reasons. Within the Libraries, we expect the oral histories collected to indicate new modes of support for women faculty users in STEM fields that the Libraries can implement, especially for subject liaison librarians. Proponents of women in STEM are increasingly researching discrimination in the sciences and designing interventions to disrupt oppression. Therefore, we believe that the oral histories we record and preserve through this project will serve as useful resources to scholars beyond the direct UF community.

i) Dissemination

The Libraries and SPOHP both have strong commitments to the dissemination of knowledge

throughout UF and to the greater public. After all of the interview materials are entered into the UFDC, the PI will create a LibGuide to showcase the works and raise discoverability of the Women in Science Oral History Collection. We have consulted with Special and Area Studies Collections (SASC) to ensure connections are made between the SPOHP project and relevant SASC specialists; we plan on a joint promotion of the oral histories though both SASC and Marston Science Library. The PI will also use online outlets, such as library mailing lists and social media platforms, to disseminate the finished project beyond UF.

At the end of the project, the SPOHP team has also proposed to create two podcast length episodes from the interview audio recordings for the public, which will be placed on the SPOHP website and aired on WUFT Radio. Podcasts created by SPOHP are stored in the UFDC for the purposes of preservation and uploaded to podcast streaming services for wide access to the public, such as iTunes and SoundCloud. In addition to being listed on the SPOHP website about podcast episodes, which will draw in audiences with oral history interests, we will use our library guide and library social media accounts to point our users to the podcasts and other content we create.

j) Long-Term Financial Implications

The scope of this project was kept intentionally narrow due to the grant funding and timeline requirements: during the grant activity period, we are only seeking to interview science faculty who are women in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This project has value on its own and is not expected to require any additional library resources beyond the grant funding period. Upon successful completion of the proposed work, we aim to use the collected interviews as a seed project for applications to external grants, such as from the National Science Foundation or National Endowment for the Humanities. Beyond this work, there is room for growth for a larger scale oral history project on marginalized people in STEM, including expanding to other UF colleges, other personal identities, and other career levels/directions.

k) Ownership of Purchased Supplies

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No equipment will be purchased as a part of this project. References Castilla, Emilio J., and Stephen Benard. 2010. “The Paradox of Meritocracy in Organizations.”

Administrative Science Quarterly 55 (4): 543–676. https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.2010.55.4.543. Ginther, Donna K, and Shulamit Kahn. 2013. “Education and Academic Career Outcomes for Women

of Color in Science and Engineering.” In Seeking Solutions: Maximizing American Talent by Advancing Women of Color in Academia: Summary of a Conference, 71–92. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/18556.

Williams, Joan C., Katherine W. Phillips, and Erika V. Hall. 2014. Double Jeopardy? Gender Bias Against Women of Color in Science. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.1763.8723.

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BUDGET FORM

1. Salaries and FringeName of Person % of effort Grant Funds Cost Share Total

Michelle Nolan 5% $0.00 $0.00 $3,743.00Haven Hawley 1% $0.00 $1,190.00 $1,190.00Student OPS ($15/hr, 300 hrs) 100% $4,757.00 $0.00 $4,757.00

$0.00 $0.00 $0.00SUBTOTAL $4,757.00 $1,190.00 $9,690.00

2. EquipmentItem Quantity times Cost Grant Funds Cost Share Total

$0.00 $0.00 $0.00SUBTOTAL $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

3. SuppliesItem Quantity times Cost Grant Funds Cost Share Total

$0.00 $0.00 $0.00SUBTOTAL $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

4. TravelFrom/To # of people/# of days Grant Funds Cost Share Total

$0.00 $0.00 $0.00SUBTOTAL $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

5. Other (Vendor costs, etc. Provide detail in Budget Narrative section.)Item Quantity times cost Grant Funds Cost Share Total

$0.00 $0.00 $0.00SUBTOTAL $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

Grant Funds Cost Share TotalTotal Direct Costs (add subtotals of items 1-5) $4,757.00 $1,190.00 $9,690.00

Strategic Opportunities Grant Budget Form 2019-2020

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BUDGET NARRATIVE Length: Maximum 1 page of text (single-space) l) Provide a detailed explanation for how each expense was calculated.

Student OPS wages: 300 hours at $15/hour + fringe costs = $4,757.00

m) Provide a justification for each expense required to carry out the project.

Grant funds will be used to compensate student labor though an OPS appointment at a wage of $15/hour. The core project activities which will require a graduate student investigator on our team include 1) assistance with research on interview candidates, 2) acting as the interviewer during the interview process, and 3) transcription of the interview oral history audio files into transcripts according to the standardized SPOHP Style Guide. Karina A. Vado will be hired as a student researcher and will commit an average of 10 hours/week to the project over the course of the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters (15 weeks each).

n) Provide a detailed explanation of the PI’s role vis-à-vis effort (does not qualify as a cost share

match).

Michelle M. Nolan (PI, 5% effort) will coordinate all activities between members of the project team and serve as the primary supervisor of the student investigator. Michelle will assist with the background research on potential women to interview and the design of interview questions/topics. She will also be responsible for combing through the existing SPOHP archive for relevant oral history transcripts of women in science from previous works. At the end of the project, she will create and promote a LibGuide with the collected oral histories to increase their visibility to the public.

o) Provide a detailed explanation of the contributed cost share by project team members toward the

required 10 % matching requirement. E. Haven Hawley (Investigator, 1% effort, cost share) will contribute to the research team as a

scholar in the history of science and technology. Haven will work with Michelle and Karina during the preparation and research phase of the project to help identify women in the sciences to interview and research their lives prior to the oral history interview session. She will provide expert knowledge about how the oral history interview topics can be framed to fit into greater themes in history of science and technology.

1

Nolan,Michelle M

From: Gonzalez, SaraSent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 12:25 PMTo: Nolan,Michelle MSubject: Letter of Support

Dear Michelle, This letter is in support of your Strategic Opportunities Program proposal “Oral History of Women in Science in the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences”. Based off of your survey of other oral history projects, this proposal is unique in its scope and promises to make a real contribution to the understanding of challenges women have experienced pursuing a scientific research career at UF. One major benefit of this proposal is that it creates a new partnership between MSL and SPOHP and I anticipate that it will build a foundation for new grant opportunities to more broadly explore and document the lives of women in science. As your supervisor, I fully support your participation in this project and look forward to the resulting interviews and findings. Regards, Sara Sara Gonzalez, Ph.D., MLIS Physical Sciences, Mathematics & Visualization Librarian Marston Science Library, University of Florida She/Her/Hers 352-273-2889 | saragonz@ufl.edu