no accountant to indicate the impossibility of stretching the sum to cover
my
needs and those of my daughter; so, quite suddenly the bubble of delight
burst. Sadly I climbed Bascom Hill and conferred with Professor Ordean Ness
whose office door was always open to students with problems; I requested
reinstatement as a teaching assistant so that I might reject the fellowship.
Re-
sourceful man, he asked whether I had notified the committee regarding my
circumstances. Upon my saying that I had not, he strongly suggested that
I
should go down the hall to the office of Professor Edward Mulvihill, the
chair
of the E. B. Fred fellowship committee. In awe, I went before Professor Mulvi-
hill and presented my case. He questioned me carefully, proposed possible
amendments to my financial package and dismissed me with the encouraging
words that he would poll the members of the committee. A few hours later,
Dr. Clarenbach called with the news that the new package had been unani-
mously approved by the committee; the major amendment was that I would
be allowed to teach one course. I could have the award distinction and a
satis-
factory income simultaneously. This stroke of good fortune quickly scattered
the remnants of my anxiety, generating at this time from the after effects
of
major surgery and from the intense pressure of preparing for prelims. My
thought was "I'm really on my way." And so I became one of the
first E. B.
Fred fellows.
Being a fellow was not merely a means of financial assistance. It was an
honor. It was an opportunity to discover the commitment of Dr. Clarenbach
and others to encourage women to pursue advanced study. It was recognition
of the need for flexible fellowships for women whose needs differed from
the
graduate student fresh from undergraduate school. During brown-bag
luncheons and informal receptions, E. B. Fred fellows became acquainted with
each other, with the programs each woman was pursuing, and could establish
collegiality.
My first thoughts of graduate study must have been born with me; I can-
not remember ever being without them. However, many were the years and
the hurdles between my birth and the attainment of my Ph.D. in January of
1965 as the first graduate in the E. B. Fred fellowship program. The fellow-
ship speeded me on my way, but also of significant help were the people I
met, such as Professors Frederick Haberman and Ordean Ness who wrote
recommendations and members of the committee who provided me with in-
spiration at a major point in my career.
Whereas the fellowship and I met when I was already in pursuit of the
doctorate, for many women the fellowship was the beginning of studies that
could never have been considered or that would have been long delayed. The
committee to allocate the funds wrought well when they provided flexible
and
innovative procedures for reaching and encouraging women.


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