The Deans' Bible. Angie Klink

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THE DEANS’ BIBLE

       The Founders Series

       Also by Angie Klink

       Kirby’s Way: How Kirby and Caroline Risk Built their Company on Kitchen-Table Values

       Divided Paths, Common Ground: The Story of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, Pioneering Purdue Women Who Introduced Science into the Home

      THE DEANS’ BIBLE

       Five Purdue Women andTheir Quest for Equality

      By Angie Klink

      Purdue University Press

      West Lafayette, Indiana

      The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the support of friends and admirers of the deans depicted in this book. Without their generosity, the writing and production of this book would not have been possible.

      Copyright 2014 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.

      Printed in the United States of America.

      Cataloging-in-Publication data on file at the Library of Congress.

      Cover design by Natalie Powell.

      In memory of my mother,Rosemary Lawhead Rhodes Lipp,because no one told her she could.

      CONTENTS

       Foreword

       Preface

       Author’s Note

       The Deans’ List

      1Celestial Chicken Salad

      2Carolyn Shoemaker, a Faraway Look

3Artists of Life

4Far Horizons

5Dorothy Stratton Finds a Bible

6Helen Schleman, Born in the Right Moment

7If Walls Could Talk

8Amelia Earhart, Cabbages and Kings

9Lillian Gilbreth, the One Best Way

10Ladies’ Agreement

11Beverley Stone, a Lovely Light

       12Your Best Foot Forward

       13Be Interesting

       14Don’t Be a Spare … Be a SPAR!

       15Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

       16In Sheep’s Clothing

       17Barbara Ivy Wood Cook, ’Tis a Gift to Be Free

       18Bible Bequeathed

       19Gospel of the Go-to-Hell Fund

       20B-Squared

       21Dean of Women Punch

       22At the Service of the President

       23Mixed Messages

       24Winter’s Death Rattle

       25Betty Mitchell Nelson, Message in the Hollow Oak

       26’Twas Ever Thus

       27The Quiet Crisis

       28Uncharted Waters

       29Peace, Love, and a Bible Passage

       30Off Guard

       31Sit In, Stand Out

       32In Walks the Pantsuit

       33Hip Women

       34Entitled to Title IX

       35The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Can Rock the Boat

       36Easier to Move a Cemetery

       37And She Did It!

       38Deanie Weenies

       39Bible Holding Pattern

       40Chicken Salad Reprise

       41The Main Thing

       42To Understand More Than One Knows

       43Hearing What Is Not Said

       44Helen’s Hankie Club

       45Betty’s Blast Off and Bible Hand Off

       46Hugging the Purdue Campus

       47By Your Leave, Sirs

       48The Place Just Right

       49Epilogue

       Index

       FOREWORD

      We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

      —ELIE WIESEL, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AUTHOR OF NIGHT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH, 1986

      FIVE REMARKABLE WOMEN enlivened and enhanced Purdue University from 1933 to 1995. They shared profound concern for students and the educations they were receiving. In addition, they also were united by their efforts to expand opportunities for women, both at Purdue and nationally.

      Purdue itself benefited immensely from their service, including their forceful and direct efforts to convince their boss, typically the university president, to modify policies that would make Purdue a stronger university. Often, though not always, they were successful.

      Who was this quintet? They were the deans of women and then deans of students from 1933 to 1995: Dorothy C. Stratton, Helen B. Schleman, M. Beverley Stone, Barbara I. Cook, and Betty M. Nelson. In their early years they were part of a mere handful of adult women in positions of responsibility at Purdue. Thus, their concerns for women transcended student life to include opportunities for women as professors and senior administrators. Not surprisingly, many of their male colleagues did not share their enthusiasm.

      Angie Klink has recorded their experiences in this lively volume, The Deans’ Bible: