UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #436
ABRAHAM, NANCY M.

ABRAHAM, Nancy M. (1934- )
Undergraduate and Graduate Student; Staff; Assistant Director of Summer Sessions; Associate Director of Special Students; Associate Director of Inter-College Programs; Associate Dean of Summer Sessions and Inter-College Programs 
At UW: 1954-1955; 1959-1989

Interviewed: 1993	
Interviewer: Barry Teicher
Indexed (time code) by: Haochen Wang
Length: 3.25 (03:14:11)

Early childhood and education; Undergraduate work; Office of high school relations; Graduate work; Summer sessions; Director Clay Schoenfeld; Dean's Council; Office of special students; Budget; Protest on campus; Facilities; Bicentennial festival; Enrichment and enhancement programs; Dean Harland Samson's emphasis on enrollment management, budget reduction, upgrading facilities, streamlining and enhancing creativity; Committee work; Summer sessions service organizations; Mental illness organizations; Other interests and activities.

First Interview Session (October 14, 1993): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:17	NA came from a blue-collar family in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She loved school while she was growing up.

00:01:47	She mentions two teachers who influenced her. NA's wonderful first grade teacher made an impression on her at an early age. In high school, she enjoyed all courses she took in the college track. Her history teacher/debate and forensics coach also had quite an impact on her. He was very demanding and taught students to question without fear. He recruited her for the debate and forensics team, participation which she regards as one of the single most important learning experiences in her life. This involvement helped her to overcome her shyness and required she do research on debate topics, an activity she enjoyed. McCarthyism was one of the topics she remembers.

00:06:10	Promising students were encouraged into the college track by principals and teachers. None of NA's relatives had gone to college, so there was no expectation that she would. Her father did not see any reason for her to go because the assumption was that she would just get married. She proceeded to check into scholarship opportunities on her own.

00:08:12	She applied to Stout Institute because she was interested in foods, design, and clothing, and she was admitted. Her family accepted the announcement that she was going.

00:09:12	Her teachers in Sheboygan encouraged her to pursue higher education.

00:10:18	She paid for her education at Stout, which she attended in 1953/54, from money she earned, scholarships, and a small windfall from her parents. She did well academically while she was there, taking both general and specific courses.

00:13:46	NA came to UW her sophomore year, after she married, and continued in the home economics program. She became pregnant that year. The Student Health Center was not equipped to deal with pregnant women because there were not many of them on campus in the early 1950s. She was determined not to drop any courses, and professors were quite accommodating of her situation. 

00:18:43	NA did not attend university from 1955 to 1960. She had in the meantime been divorced, so she re-enrolled in 1960 so she could to make a decent living for herself and her son. Her eligibility for a National Defense Loan was questioned on the grounds that a large portion of her budget was designated for child care. She spent two hard years working half-time, attending UW full-time, and caring for her son. She studied home economics and education. 

00:21:57	NA continued to work in the medical school two years after she got her B.A. She initially did clerical work in the State Historical Society. She then transferred to a similar position in the Medical School Business, Registrar's, and Dean's Office. 

00:25:11	Rita Youmans, a professor of home economics instructor, instilled in students a responsibility to give back when they receive. NA managed to get a dispensation to do independent work instead of living at the Home Management House, a "lab" for home economics students.

00:27:13	NA had James Lipham as a professor while an undergraduate in the School of Education. UW was relatively flexible in granting her "special dispensations." She did abstracts of research reports for a professor in the School of Education to secure her final credit toward her B.A.

00:29:28	There were not large numbers of returning students in the early 1960s. NA's experience was different than that of regular students. She did not have free time to become involved in extracurricular activities.

00:31:19	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:36	NA worked in the Office of High School Relations from 1964 to 1967. It was a new, concerted effort on the part of UW to reach out to Wisconsin high schools. It did everything from arranging visits to high schools to coordinating campus staff to be available at high school career days. It also became involved with the Junior Science Engineering and Humanities Symposium.

00:35:33	In High School Relations NA was initially an administrative assistant, and then she became assistant director. As a part of the Registrar and Undergraduate Admissions Office, it was housed in the Peterson Building. She believes that High School Relations fulfilled its mission while she worked there. 

00:37:31	Jack Kellesvig was and still is a good Director of High School Relations. The summer orientation and advising program for freshmen and new transfer students is a part of the responsibility of High School Relations. 

00:39:21	NA's decision to pursue a Master's was again economically motivated. It became apparent she would not move ahead careerwise without additional degrees. She chose to pursue a Master's in the area of textiles and design, a program she enjoyed very much. She talks about the special projects she undertook in connection with it.

00:42:48	By the time NA completed her graduate degree, she was working in Summer Sessions for Clay Schoenfeld as a graduate assistant. Though she had no goals set for a career in textiles and design, she knew she wanted to pursue a degree in that area, and it was a wonderful experience.

00:44:39	NA particularly enjoyed the design courses of Pat Mansfield and Til Schwalbach, who was open to students' ideas. Bert Kreitlow, who taught adult education, had all types of "gimmicks" to engage students in his class. His team projects were especially valuable.

00:48:21	NA saw a distinct change in students' attitudes towards education during the time she was a student at UW. In the late 1960s, students began to "psych out" professors, i.e. try to determine what a professor wanted instead of doing what they thought appropriate and trying to learn as much as possible. She believes that students became more concerned with getting good grades so they could find a job. 

00:50:54	NA's father modified his views about her education when he realized that it was important for her to have a good life. He gave her some money to help pay for school. He was an important element in the life of her son, who is mentally ill.

00:54:18	Her mother died when she was almost nine. She was very creative, especially with textiles. 

00:56:10	As a teenager NA helped manage and organize up to 400 children who worked picking beans outside of Sheboygan. 

00:57:47     NA got a job in the Office of Summer Sessions her second year in graduate school. She was "hired off the street" by Schoenfeld as a graduate assistant. She did not know the job would stretch to 21 years.

00:59:53	One of her first tasks at Summer Sessions was to do an extensive faculty load study, for which she evaluated a variety of documents to determine faculty load during the Summer Sessions. It was research, which she has always enjoyed. It was one internal guideline for Summer Sessions budget allocation. She was very comfortable with the great degree of autonomy Schoenfeld allowed her. 

01:02:59	End of side. End of tape.

End of Mp3 File.

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:22	Summer Sessions was located on the second floor of The Towers on State Street when NA started in 1968. The office consisted of Clay Schoenfeld as director, Susan Disch with Public Information, Dorothy Dysland with Summer Sessions Special Students, a secretary Nancy. Emily Earley was working with Schoenfeld for the Center for Environmental Communications and Educational Studies. 

00:02:31	NA familiarized herself with Summer Sessions during her first year. There was a lot of PR to inform students and the general public about the summer sessions. Planning for summer sessions took place in the fall and winter, dealings with students in the spring and summer.

00:03:47	During the first couple of years NA was not involved in programming. She did help to orient new freshmen beginning in the summer. Early on, she worked mainly on studies and reports.

00:04:24	NA was involved with the associate deans in the Dean's Council, where many discussions about course offerings were held. Schoenfeld held back some of the Summer Sessions budget to fund new courses that would not only enter the summer curriculum, but ultimately the regular academic-year curriculum as well. Death and Dying is a good example of such a course. It took some time to persuade the deans to support innovative programming. Over 100 students enrolled in Death and Dying the first time it was offered.

00:06:48	Schoenfeld became the Director of Summer Sessions in 1965, when responsibility for UW-Madison summer sessions was returned to this campus. Prior to 1965 it had been tied in to the Center System and Extension. Schoenfeld drew on the approaches of previous directors, but he also developed a campus advisory committee, or Dean's Council, that had representatives from each of the schools and colleges offering summer courses. It brought them together as an advisory group, allowing their input in the development of the summer sessions curriculum.

00:08:20   The position of Director of Summer Sessions was still part-time when NA came on board. Schoenfeld, Lorenz Adolfson, and John Guy Fowlkes had all previously held this position. 

00:09:50	Schoenfeld was director for almost 20 years, from 1965 to 1984. He was an interesting person to work with. NA could not have done as many interesting and exciting things in her career if she had worked with anyone else. Though frustrating at times, Schoenfeld is a very creative individual with much energy. He did not interfere in assignments after he gave them, a conducive work arrangement for NA. She honed her own thinking and writing skills working with him. 

00:13:13	Schoenfeld favored a summer session acceptable to the institution as a whole regarding quality and breadth of offerings and a more inter-college "look" for the university. The discussion of creative and innovative course proposals was a true inter-college activity. NA sees this as a laboratory for a university at its best. Schoenfeld was successful at fostering inter-college communication, a concept increasingly stressed over the years in Summer Sessions. NA actively supported this objective. 

00:15:26	The Dean's Council existed when NA came to Summer Sessions. She became actively involved in it after her first two years. Schoenfeld saw her as integrally involved, and she felt free to contribute during meetings. She, Schoenfeld, and the deans regularly attended meetings which took place several times a year.

00:16:59	NA talks about the dynamic in the Dean's Council. Robert Doremus was a strong element in the dean's group while he was alive. George Sledge at times acted to bring people together. By and large it was a congenial, collegial, and open group where ideas were aired and thoughts were rejected and revived. 

00:18:54	The Dean's Council along with NA and Schoenfeld made the change from the five to the four-day summer session. There was lively discussion about the three-week intersession, or "early session." When major changes were implemented, surveys and studies were always conducted. The Dean's Council helped to expand the parameters of summer sessions. It was involved in procedural changes or policy which went on to the Faculty Senate for decision-making. The Council was a forum for discussion for anything relating to summer sessions.
 
00:23:25	NA became Assistant Director of Summer Sessions in 1971. By January 1972, the special student operation was expanded to a year-round Office of Special Students. Her job was no longer a "filler" job. Non-degree students were allowed to study on campus year-round through the entry point of the Summer Sessions Office. 

00:24:49	Schoenfeld depended upon NA and staff to get the Office of Special Students up and running in three weeks. It was decided that the Office of Summer Sessions would admit, enroll, and serve as the dean's office for non-degree students year-round. The inter-coll ege relationships developed by Summer Sessions proved very helpful in this undertaking. The year-round special student program was implemented without any additional staff, though it was larger than when NA came started in 1968. She, Susan Disch, Dorothy Dysland, and Bob Belle were instrumental.

00:28:41	There was incredible growth in enrollment, and almost immediately thereafter the guest student auditing program came into being. Enrollments grew to a point where almost 3000 students were enrolled through the Summer Sessions Office during a fall or spring term. It interacted with every part of the university in that capacity. The staff gathered data at the same time these programs were being developed. 

00:30:34	Part of the reason the special student operation was implemented was the demand by non-degree students wishing to study at UW.

00:31:23	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2

00:31:47	UW responded to the demand from the surrounding community to access campus resources with fewer obstacles. Data was collected initially because the special student program was an experiment. When it "passed muster," Summer Sessions within a year had become the official office for non-degree students year-round.

00:32:49	One of the staff's responsibilities was to respond to other institutions' queries about the program. UW was among the first universities to be made accessible to non-degree students. These students could not register until all other students had already had the opportunity.

00:34:32	The UW administration was involved insofar as it gave the experiment approval, said there should be a report on its effectiveness, reviewed it, and decided to institute an office of non-degree students year-round to be housed in Summer Sessions. Its title then officially became the Division of Summer Sessions and Inter-college Programs.

00:35:33     End of side. End of tape. End of interview session.

End of Mp3 File.

Second Interview Session (October 18, 1993): Tapes 3-4

Tape 3/Side 1

00:00:34	NA talks about the budget during the Schoenfeld years. It was a time of fiscal growth at UW. She did most of the actual data-gathering, analysis, and preparation for summer sessions budget decision-making. She advised Schoenfeld, who had the final word where the budget was concerned.

00:02:19	The budget grew over the period from 1965 to 1984. Increases were made according to the number of students enrolled. This approach may have accounted for some of the scrambling that all of the schools did in the mid- to late 1980s. Over 14,000 students were enrolled as early as the summer of 1969. Enrollments varied within a given range over the years. In the early 1970s the schools and colleges had to help the Medical School with funding because its "soft monies" were drying up.

00:05:05	The student protest movement and the bombing of Sterling Hall had an impact on summer sessions enrollment. Parents were leery of sending their children to UW. These events received full media coverage. They placed heavy stress on UW employees. The National Guard marshaled many student protest marches, which began between the Towers, where the Summer Sessions Office was located, and the Brat House. NA believes that Summer Sessions tried to correct the negative image brought on by the protests and the bombing.

00:09:02	In 1973, the Summer Sessions Office moved from its facilities at the Towers to 433 N. Murray St. (demolished June 1994), a three-story flat where campus personalities such as Helen C. White and William Ellery Leonard had previously lived. Summer Sessions was growing and needed more space. The Housing Bureau, which earlier had been located at 433 N. Murray, was dissolved with the move towards decentralization on campus. In 1988, the Office of Summer Sessions moved to 905 University Ave., once a bank building and now a student services building. NA talks about the limitations of the space on Murray St., which was never sufficient for Summer Sessions' needs. The move was welcomed.

00:13:35	NA talks about the growth in staff in the Office of Summer Sessions while Schoenfeld was director. While still in the Towers a shipping and mailing clerk, a graduate assistant who took over some of NA's tasks when she became assistant director, and NA's secretary were added. By 1984, it had 2½ advisors, Susan Disch in Public Information with an assistant and full-time secretary, one or two graduate students to help with development of the database, Schoenfeld's secretary and a couple of graduate students affiliated with the Center for Environmental Communications, a file clerk, two receptionists, and admissions examiner Dorothy Dysland.

00:15:44	The size of the Office of Summer Sessions was approaching 20 people, with additional part-time students during heavier work periods. NA talks about other roles the Office took on over the years for given periods of time. It served as the Campus Bicentennial Office. It helped organize the extended-day timetable, a task in which Disch was especially instrumental. Peg Eisler worked part-time in the Office of Summer Sessions when continuing education services was developed in the early 1970s as an advising office for returning adult students.

00:17:34   	Schoenfeld was still involved with the Center for Environmental Communications and Educational Studies and Wildlife Ecology. He eventually became a full-time director.

00:17:57	NA discusses the big Bicentennial Festival held on campus. The Summer Sessions Office coordinated the campus for a weekend celebration of the Bicentennial and opening of the lower State Street Mall. It was actually successful in getting rivals Paul Ginsburg and Paul Soglin together on the same podium for dedications ceremonies. The Festival was a very ambitious activity for which the Summer Sessions Office had the cooperation of every part of the campus. NA describes some of the many activities that took place.

00:21:28	Summer Sessions was put in charge of the Festival because it was "ambidextrous." It was designated as an inter-college operation for the Bicentennial year. The Festival was Summer Sessions' contribution to the Bicentennial celebration on campus as well as its acting as the Bicentennial Office. NA talks about a skit performed during the Festival about the Red Gym.

00:24:10	NA became the Associate Director of Summer Sessions in about 1980. The promotion was due to the expanded responsibilities Summer Sessions had taken on without any additional staff. One of these responsibilities was to become the office for some of the summer programs for minority/disadvantaged youth. For at least five summers, Summer Sessions was directly responsible for running those programs — an eight-week program for high school graduates and several one-week programs to orient younger students to the university. NA talks about challenges associated with these programs. When Harland Samson became Dean of Summer Sessions in 1984, he began to transfer the purview of some of these programs back to individual schools and colleges.

00:29:15	Schoenfeld retired in June 1984. His strongest contributions to Summer Sessions were the Dean's Advisory Council, creative/innovative summer course funding, the development of the three-week intersession, emphasis on the four-day week (while still offering weekend courses where appropriate), and his insistence Summer Session dollars remain separate.

00:31:19	End of side.

Tape 3/Side 2 

00:31:47	Schoenfeld never acquiesced to repeated attempts to deviate from the faculty summer salary formula, which was based on the previous academic year's salary and length of the course. Because he had been an assistant to E. B. Fred, Schoenfeld had a very good historical perspective of UW.

00:33:07	Harland Samson, previously Associate Dean of the School of Education, became Dean of Summer Sessions upon Schoenfeld's retirement. NA had previous interaction with him. He had been the School of Education's representative on the Dean's Council. They were both members of the Space and Remodeling Policy Committee. She talks about other opportunities she had to work with him prior to his coming to Summer Sessions.

00:34:47	The Schoenfeld years were a period of remarkable growth for Summer Sessions. NA characterizes the five years from 1984 to 1989 almost as a period of "decimation." There was a move from growth to an era where funds were more constricted. It was difficult for NA to adjust to Samson's administrative style. She liked to find creative ways to deal with problems; he liked to be rid of them.

00:36:22	NA compares Samson's administrative style ("the volleyer") with Schoenfeld's and her own ("the juggler"). Some of the problems Summer Sessions experienced were due to budget constraints; some of them may well have been due to different administrative styles. She and Schoenfeld tended to cut corners without eliminating programs. This approach was harder to take under the Samson administration. It was difficult for NA to see programs that she had helped develop dissembled or moved.

00:39:20	The minority and disadvantaged summer programs went back to colleges almost immediately after Samson took over. Summer Sessions still had some involvement with the programs. Another difference in style was that NA approached administration and program development not only from a theoretical but also from a practical standpoint.

00:40:59	NA talks about the five key issues Samson identified in his Oral History interview as the most important issues of his deanship. 1) Enrollment management. The aim of the President of the UW System, Kenneth Shaw, was to reduce enrollment throughout the system.

00:42:48	2) Budget reduction. It became harder to consider small-group needs because of the push from above to cut the budget and therefore courses. NA discusses the ambiguity of the term "accountability." Summer sessions always brought in more dollars than it paid out to support faculty and staff. UW's Office of Summer Sessions is not self-supporting; it does not pay for all the facilities and overhead. There is a difference in philosophy coming across at the top level with Buzz Shaw and within Summer Sessions itself. Samson was forced to struggle with a $5 million reduction in the Summer Sessions budget. NA did not see "fat" in the budget. Budget reduction was a problem for deans all over campus and the system. From NA's point of view, it was a time of constraint and lessened creativity.

00:48:57	3) Upgrading of Facilities. NA talks about how Summer Sessions got the facility at 905 University Ave. She believes there was an opportunity to move in there at the time it moved to the Murray St. location, but Schoenfeld felt the latter was better. In 1988, space became available in 905 University again because the new student portion of Undergraduate Admissions felt it needed different space and wanted to be closer to the main area of Undergraduate Admissions in the Peterson Building. Summer Sessions exchanged space with this portion of Undergraduate Admissions. It also obtained space vacated in the basement of 905 University. NA talks about some of the improvements the space in 905 University offered, including more square footage and more easily-accessible space located on two floors instead of four.

00:52:55	4) Streamlining the Operation. NA acknowledges the need to get rid of certain aspects of summer sessions because of financial constraints. The full-time assistant dean's position fell victim to budget cuts.

00:54:37	5) Strengthening the Creativity of Summer Sessions. New programs were started under Dean Samson, for example Windows on the World, which ran for at least five summers. Each summer films, exhibits, courses, and seminars/workshops focused on a designated part of the world. Some outstanding programs for K-12 students continued to run throughout this period, including the award-winning College for Kids and Computerfest. The University Forum won an award as well.

00:56:59	NA talks about the basic administrative services and coordination Summer Sessions provides for the summer programs of schools and colleges throughout UW.

01:00:12	She discusses major job responsibilities and accomplishments during her five-and-a-half years as Associate Dean of Summer Sessions. These were the hardest years of her working career because of reductions and constraints; enrollment management was particularly frustrating to her.

01:02:57	End of side. End of tape.

End of Mp3 File.

Tape 4/Side 1

00:00:10	All the change brought on by decisions made outside of Summer Sessions did not allow NA to get a perspective on its future, a development she did not like.

00:02:15	NA made the decision to retire early, at 55, because of personal difficulties, her work was no longer enjoyable, and a retirement window opened under "the rule of 85." 

00:03:38	She talks about her work on the Records and Registration Committee and the Space and Remodeling Policy Committee. 

00:07:28	NA has been very active in service organizations relating to summer sessions, serving as president of the North American Association of Summer Sessions and of the North Central Conference on Summer Schools in 1979/80. Schoenfeld encouraged her involvement in these organizations, which she found very stimulating because they provided an opportunity to get in touch with colleagues from other institutions offering summer sessions.

00:08:38	NA was very involved in the research committees of both of those organizations, which used data to chart the direction of summer sessions. She was involved in the first joint statistical report which tried to combine data collection for members of the four summer sessions associations. NA talks about national trends that this type of report allowed to be discerned. She and a colleague ran an institute for new summer sessions administrators on four occasions. Reduction, accompanied by a fall in morale, was a big issue at the national level. Summer sessions administrators tend to see their institutions as an integrated whole.

00:13:33	NA discusses the history she is currently writing of the North American Association of Summer Sessions. Dean of Men and Summer Sessions Scott Goodnight was part of the original founding group of the Association of University Summer Sessions right before WWI. In 1893, UW's summer session was canceled in favor of the Exposition in Chicago.

00:16:59	NA reflects on some of the more enjoyable moments of her career in the Office of Summer Sessions: the Bicentennial Festival, the weekend open house during UW's 125th anniversary celebration, the Office of Non-Degree Students, work with 62+ auditing students, creative/innovative course proposals, committee work and the Special Student Advisory Committee.

00:19:43	NA talks about Helen Allen, a textile design professor who she admired very much. Allen traveled extensively and collected all types of textiles. There is the fine Helen Allen textile collection in the School of Family Resources.

00:21:34	NA became involved in mental illness organizations after her son manifested schizophrenia in 1974. People did not talk about mental illness then, and families were generally blamed. She and others formed the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Dane County in 1977. In 1979, the Alliance with the help of UW Extension health area and Roger Williams called a conference in Madison, where the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill was formed. It now has 1,000 affiliates. In 1981, a Wisconsin state Alliance was formed with NA as its first president. The Alliances support families that must cope with mental illness, provide education about serious mental illnesses, and advocate for research, better treatment, services, housing, etc. for people with serious mental illness.

00:25:15	Her son has gotten better as a client of a PAC program, a national model community-based treatment program out of the Mendota Mental Health Institute. It is a program of assertive community treatment, where staff go out to the clients' homes to provide services. It is not only nationally, but internationally recognized. NA is convinced this is the best system of treatment.

00:27:43	NA lists other interests and activities. She is: a member of Zonta, an international service organization to help improve the status of women and children, involved in adult education at her church, chair of the Public Affairs Committee of the Madison civics Club; learning tai chi.

00:29:20	NA was co-chair of the Ad Hoc Affirmative Action Committee formed in the early 1970s through the Association of Faculty Women that prepared a report and recommendations about the role of women at the university. She was very excited to see resulting changes in the Athletic Department and the formation of the Women's Studies Department. It was a pioneering effort.

00:31:21	End of side.

Tape 4/Side 2

00:31:40	She talks about others involved in the affirmative action effort.

00:32:42	End of side. End of tape. End of interview session.

END