UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #654
WIEGAND, NANCY

WIEGAND, Nancy (1948- )
Undergraduate and graduate student; Senior scientist at UW-Madison’s Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility
At UW: 1966-

Interviewed: 	2004	
Interviewer: 	Joyce Coleman
Length: 	1.25 hours
Series:		Campus Voices; Women in Science and Engineering

Abstract:  In her January 2004 interview with Joyce Coleman, Nancy Wiegand reviews her graduate schooling and research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the late 1960s to the early 200s. Wiegand relates how her interest in computer science and ecology developed and key personalities who nurtured her scientific research. She also describes the long process of achieving a PhD, her interdisciplinary research, and the changing climate for women on the campus of UW-Madison. This interview was conducted for inclusion in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives Oral History Project.

Keywords: Wauwatosa WI; University of Wisconsin-Madison; Lawrence Travis; computer science; gender discrimination; Women in Computer Science; University of Wisconsin-Platteville; land resources management; difficulties of interdisciplinary work; parenting; career ambitions.

First Interview Session (January 15, 2004): Digital File

00:00:00	[begin Tape 1/Side 1] Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:13	Nancy Wiegand grew up in Wauwatosa, WI.  She attributed her interest in science and math to her father, who was a high school science teacher. 

00:02:32	Although NW excelled in high school, her parents did not want her to attend college because of the expense.  She was able to afford UW-Madison only because of two scholarships she was awarded.

00:06:06	NW chose to study math because it was her favorite subject.  On the advice of an aunt and uncle, she took several computer science courses.

00:07:49	NW talks about the year-long introductory sequence of computer science classes taught by Lawrence Travis.  The class was a sink or swim situation because it included students who had never programmed before as well as those with significant program- ming experience.  NW describes the process of programming with punch-cards.

00:11:33	NW discusses several math courses she took.  She explains that she was accustomed to being surrounded by men in her classes, as well as during social activities such as rock-climbing, and therefore did not feel out of place in her math classes.

00:16:04	NW did not become involved with the protest movement in the late 1960s.  She worked part-time as a programmer throughout her undergraduate years.

00:18:16	When NW graduated in 1970, she hoped to earn a Masters degree in computer science and was accepted into the UW graduate program.  But because of her lack of money and her need for a break, she decided to defer graduate school in order to work as a programmer. She worked for the Center for Health Science and the Center for Demography and Ecology.

00:20:07	NW describes an occasion when she learned she was being paid far less than a male colleague whom she was training.  She talked to an administrator in the medical school who agreed to give her vacation time to make up for the inequity in her salary from the time her new colleague was hired, and to promote her to a position with benefits.  This situation was the first time NW realized she had to look out for herself to ensure she was treated fairly.  She describes how this was a shift in thinking, as until this time she would never think to ask for raises or promote her own worth.

00:23:47	NW does not remember thinking about or being involved with the women’s movement.

00:25:33	In the late 1970s, NW returned to UW to earn a Masters degree in land resources.  After 10 years of working, she decided to go back to school because she enjoyed school and she had been passed up for many interesting-sounding jobs for someone else who had a Masters degree.  She talks about how she became interested in protecting the environment.  NW wanted to combine computer science and environmental studies, but could not do so in the computer sciences department because it was focused on theory rather than on computer applications.  People in environmental studies were suspicious about using computers to study nature.

00:30:25	NW remembers talking to a wildlife ecology professor who discouraged her from studying wildlife ecology because of her gender.

00:31:25	[end side 1; begin side 2] 	NW describes how she became interested in using database systems to store environmental data.  She first learned about database systems with David DeWitt.  In her Master’s thesis she wrote about both the advantages and limitations of using a relational database management system when doing fieldwork.

00:33:12	NW believed it was important to know the application, which might involve learning how to do fieldwork herself.  She spent time learning to identify different types of trees and shrubs.  NW did not know of anyone else at the time using relational database systems for similar types of applications.

00:36:32	NW expresses her regret that none of the members of her committee encouraged her to publish her thesis.  Her work was so new and interdisciplinary that it did not fit well into the computer science and environmental journals of the time.  She explains that she still experiences difficulty relating to her interdisciplinary work because academics in computer science and the geo-sciences always treat her work as outside their own discipline.  It is difficult for an interdisciplinary scholar to find a single university department willing to hire them.

00:39:33	NW funded her graduate studies by working as a teaching assistant in the computer sciences department.  She soon came to love teaching.  NW talks about several courses she taught.

00:42:02	NW explains why she decided to earn a Masters degree in computer science.  Around this time she joined a group called Women in Computer Science.

00:44:12	NW completed her Masters degree in computer science and all the course work for a PhD in land resources.  In 1983, for financial reasons, she accepted a position as an assistant professor of computer science at UW-Platteville.  NW talks about her experiences in this position.

00:48:54	Her second semester at UW-Platteville, NW began teaching an evening course at Edgewood College.  The following year, she was offered a chance to teach a course on database management systems at UW-Madison.  Although the position was not secure and paid less than the UW-Platteville position, NW jumped at the opportunity because of her excitement about teaching databases.  Five years later, NW’s position ended because of state-level budget cuts and she re-entered graduate school.

00:49:41	NW regrets that she did not know more about the process of doing research at this point in her career.  On several occasions she developed original ideas, but did not realize she ought to publish them.

00:52:47	NW continued discussing her experience working at UW-Platteville.  She remembers meeting a group of women and being surprised to realize they were all faculty spouses, rather than faculty members.

00:54:33	When NW’s position at UW-Madison was cut in the late 1980s, she decided to complete her PhD in land resources.  She explains why she hoped for a faculty position at UW-Madison once she earned her PhD in 1994.  NW soon learned, however, that during the years she had spent completing her PhD, the university climate had changed.  Departments could no longer freely hire talented people, but had to develop strategic plans and then hire a candidate who fit a particular profile.  The interdisciplinary nature of her work meant that a department would be unlikely to hire her.

00:57:08	NW still wonders how to find a secure position within computer science.  Her current salary is funded by grants.  She talks about her current connection to the computer sciences department.

01:01:02	NW recalls changes she has seen in the computer sciences department and the univer- sity as a whole.  In contrast to the late 1960s, when the university was growing, there is now little money for research, hiring and scholarships.  Because tuition has increased so much, NW worries she will not be able to afford tuition for her daughter. [end tape 1; begin tape 2] NW continues to talk about the downsizing of the university and how it has affected her career.  There is currently little funding for environmental studies.  NW says that in retrospect, she ought to have pursued a PhD in computer science and not tried to pursue an interdisciplinary topic.  The National Science Foundation is very interested in funding interdisciplinary work, but the university does not provide a home for interdisciplinary scholars.  There are some new initiatives (cluster hires), but they are still targeted and require the candidate to have a home department.

01:06:36	NW comments on the difficulties of raising a child on her own.  Child care is insufficient and exorbitantly expensive.  She also notes how difficult transportation and parking are for mothers who need to make a “double commute” to drop off their children at day-care and then get to work themselves. NW talks about the changes needed that would allow more people to achieve their full potential.  Greater flexibility and more alternate types of positions would allow mothers and other people facing constraints to work at the types of positions they want.

01:10:16	When NW was interviewing for positions, she was always careful not to reveal she was a mother because she feared discrimination.  She notes that she encourages her daughter to pursue a scientific career.  She and her daughter participate in the middle school program Expanding Your Horizons.

01:12:04	NW makes concluding remarks on her career at the university.

01:12:51	End of First Interview Session

End of Interview #654