Radcliffe President Discusses Past

Radcliffe College President Linda S. Wilson discussed her professional history with a group of about 25 undergraduates at a lunch sponsored by the Institute of Politics (IOP) yesterday.

Part of an IOP lunch series at Memorial Hall, Wilson spent the bulk of her time speaking about her past jobs and her transition from teaching chemistry to administration.

"What does a girl chemist do when she grows up?" Wilson asked rhetorically, as she began her talk.

Wilson said she made the initial leap out of the classroom after a new job confronted her with students who performed on a sub-par level.

"I didn't really know how to teach where students were ill-prepared and not very interested," she said.

Wilson then began her stint as an administrator at Washington University. As part of her administrative position, Wilson began attending national conferences studying science policy.

As policy-makers sought to include more women among their ranks , Wilson said her name was one people recognized. She began to be appointed to more and more committees.

"I'll give myself credit for all the hard work and all the intense travel. I'll give myself credit for being smart," she said. "But there were opportunities there because there hadn't been any [women] there before."

Wilson has chaired the National Research Council's Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel and has served on the Director's Advisory Council of the National Science Foundation.

Wilson said being the only woman at the table sometimes had its advantages.

"They never forgot my name, and they never forgot my institution, even though there were other people doing the same things for their institutions," she said.

Before coming to Radcliffe, Wilson served as vice president for research at the University of Michigan, a job where she managed vast resources. But she said when Radcliffe called offering her its presidency, she jumped.

"You do not turn down Radcliffe," she said. "That's one of the powers that I have [as president]. I can call almost anyone and ask them to come to Radcliffe, and they come. It's really a very heady feeling."

Students attending the lunch questioned Wilson about the possibility of a merger between Harvard and Radcliffe, reportedly the subject of closed-door talks between the two schools for more than a year.

As she has throughout the negotiation process, Wilson spoke only in generalities about the future.

"We may collaborate more," she said. "Whether that is more formal or whether that remains informal as it is now...that is premature."

Wilson cautioned against pushing for change for the wrong reasons.

"It's not really a controversy, it's questions," she said. "Some people say, 'we get tired of answering questions.' They say 'we'll just change.' Usually, you don't make changes because you're tired."