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Woman in science
Kathleen Trahanovsky's teaching career has taken her from a part-time
position to institutional honors.
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A pact with a friend brought Kathleen Trahanovsky to Iowa State's Department
of Chemistry 40 years ago.
While that friend didn't stay long on campus, Trahanovsky did, completing
her master's degree in chemistry.
"My intention was only to get a master's degree," she said.
"I went back to Boston after I completed my degree."
In Boston, Trahanovsky taught some courses and found she enjoyed being
a teacher. So it was back to Iowa State, where she began working on a
Ph.D. in organic chemistry and serving as a teaching assistant in the
Department of Chemistry.
On her first day back in Ames, she met a young new faculty member (Walter
Trahanovsky) and that relationship led to marriage, children and when
her husband earned tenure, an uncertain job future for Kathleen Trahanovsky.
"There were no other real employment opportunities for me if I wanted
to continue to be a chemist," she said. "The (chemistry) department
would add a section or a faculty member would go on leave and they would
call me up and ask me if I wanted to teach."
For the first few years, Trahanovsky said that arrangement was fine. Her
children were young, requiring a flexibility that a full-time position
wouldn't have allowed.
"The trouble was there was no future, no security and no status,"
she said. "I was never evaluated and from semester to semester, I
didn't know if I would have a position. I could have been a free post-doc,
but that didn’t appeal to me."
During that time frame, Trahanovsky thought she was in a unique situation.
Then she found out that other women chemists at research universities
across the country were in the same boat.
At a meeting of the Women Chemists Committee of the American Chemical
Society, Trahanovsky decided to see if anyone could give her some advice
on the situation.
"I stood up and told the group that I had been temporary teaching
for eight to ten years and I was bothered by my status," she recalled.
"The room responded almost as one. Everyone either had gone through
the same situation or knew someone like me."
Trahanovsky stayed involved with the Women Chemists Committee, chairing
that American Chemical Society group from 1989-91. During that time and
since then, she has become an advocate for raising the consciousness of
academic departments, particularly in the sciences, about hiring more
female professors. She remains a frequent speaker on encouraging women
in science.
And in recent years, she has gained a permanent, full-time teaching position
within the Department of Chemistry, first as a temporary assistant professor
and currently as an adjunct associate professor. She also serves as the
associate coordinator of general chemistry.
In 1993, Trahanovsky became director and an active member of Science Bound,
a program for 8-12th grade students in the Des Moines school system whose
mission is to increase minority involvement leading to enrollment in technical
degree programs at Iowa State. Since 1999, she has also served as PI for
Pipelines, a NASA funded subcontract from Southern University in Baton
Rouge, La., whose goal is to attract more minority students to research
careers in science.
That activity and 30 years of teaching general and organic chemistry to
Iowa State students have netted Trahanovsky several departmental and college
awards for teaching, advising and mentoring.
The latest came this past fall, when the Iowa State University Alumni
Association named her a recipient of a Faculty Citation, which "recognizes
ISU faculty for inspiring service to students, alumni, the university,
and the profession."
Around LAS
January 13-26, 2003
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