Lane reflects on her accomplishments
Lane reflects on what she did accomplish during her time as UNC's women's studies director. She feels that some meaningful change did occur.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Mary Turner Lane, September 9 and 16, 1986; May 21, 1987; October 1 and 28, 1987. Interview L-0039. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- MARY TURNER LANE:
-
You have to feel that this was a mission that had to do with the status
of women and the lives of women. I went out into the world from college
so unprepared for life that when I moved into this job, I guess it did
become a kind of mission for me—that I do whatever in my
power to enable students to be more aware of the realities of life,
particularly the economic realities of life. And maybe it was that
mission that kept me fired up and kept me going somehow or other. Of
Course the work was fascinating. The people were fascinating.
- PAMELA DEAN:
-
So there were rewards.
- MARY TURNER LANE:
-
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
- PAMELA DEAN:
-
If you didn't achieve all of your goals, nonetheless, the
process….
- MARY TURNER LANE:
-
And ultimately, we achieved a great deal. I believe that when I left, the
program had its own academic integrity. We had not overturned the
University but had become a very respectable part of the University. In
the last year that I was here, I spent a large amount of time working
with Duke in helping to create the Duke-UNC Research Center which,
although housed on the campus of Duke because the $250,000 Ford
grant was actually achieved, acquired by Professor [William] Chafe of
that faculty with the stipulation that it would be on that campus. At
the same time, that was a singular experience or program for us to have.
So that was left in place. So the fact that the program had existed, it
had survived, it had grown, and it had become accepted, not just
tolerated, but accepted, and had branched out in some ways that were
appropriate and strong, I think were significant
achievements. I also think that we had brought women faculty together in
a way and had supported their research in a way that's very
helpful. We started the Program of Women's Research Seminars.
I think that's still going on. It's supported now,
I think, by the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences but
initially, we brought it, we started it with afternoon seminars where
women could present papers or research on which they were working. And
as they presented the research, people from other disciplines could
respond to it and ask questions about it. That proved to be very
helpful. We also invited people from across campus and across the
community to come in. So I think the support of women's
research in gender issues was certainly something that we began and that
was strengthened, they grew during that time.