UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #792
BEHAN, MARY

BEHAN, Mary (1950- )
Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine
At UW: 1976-

Interviewed: 2006	
Interviewer: Sandy Pfahler
Length: 1.5 hours

Family background; Early education; Undergraduate work at University College in Dublin; graduate work; Political activism in Ireland; PhD work and traveling to the United States to research; Arrival in Madison; Early years with UW; School of Veterinary Medicine; Research; Collaborations; Teaching; Committee work; Climate for women; Leisure activities and family.

First Interview Session (July 26, 2006): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:44	Mary Behan was born in 1950 in Ireland. Her parents were both dentists, mother was one of the first female and youngest dentists. Talks about her sister and going to boarding school around age 11. 

0:01:51	Behan goes into detail about the nuns who ran the boarding school and her experience there. A very good education. A focus on science, MB enjoyed it and her sister went to college in a science field. 

0:03:26	Parents not encouraging for her to go into dentistry, hard for a woman. Her mother did not practice much. 
	
0:04:06	MB studied science in college. She describes the school system in Ireland. Attended University College in Dublin.  Discusses religion in regards to choosing a college, Trinity College. 

0:05:23	Retrospectively, MB has noticed that the professors of the big sciences were women. Never considered that she would not be able to do what she wanted. Parents stressed that she and her sister were to have careers. 

0:06:28	In the Irish school system, one was to choose a focus in either math and science or the humanities as young as 11 or 12. In college, MB spent much of her time in the sciences. Received an honors degree in zoology. 

0:07:59	MB assumed that a career would come up after she received her degree, but knew graduate school was an option. Had a boyfriend, so she stayed in Ireland unlike her sister. The state paid for graduate training. 

0:09:01	MB had a great time as a graduate student. She got involved in politics, a worker’s party. She came from an upper middle class family with set political values, felt she got too large a slice of the pie compared to others. Talks about the EU. Talks more about the political group with which she was a member. Got politics out of her system. 

0:12:28	She got her Ph.D. in 5 years opposed to the typical 3 because of her political work. Her Ph.D. advisor got her by default, they did not really want to work together. She thinks she was probably a handful. MB did not really respect him, explains why. MB describes her Ph.D. research. 

0:14:54	MB talks about her Ph.D. project, looking at the sensory receptors on insects, example: where to lay eggs. 

0:15:50	In Ireland, you had to leave for your post-doc to get more experience and then go back for a job, MB did not go back. She went to U Mass Amherst, and she loved the United States.  So many opportunities for her. She spent about a year and a half in Massachusetts. Describes the visa system. Found another post-doc in Holland. 

0:19:09	MB describes her post-doc in Holland. A small agricultural college. Anecdote about marriage prospects. She wanted to get back to the United States even though she was keeping her hand in the insect group in Europe.  Applied for another post-doc in Germany. 

0:20:42 	Germany was the Mecca for insect behavior. Saw a job advertised in UW-Madison. Electron microscopy, area of expertise. She wanted to go because she had been to Madison before. 

0:21:58	MB describes her visit to Madison in 1976. Describes the Terrace and how she never forgot Madison. 

0:22:42	In Holland, she received a phone call from Madison with John Harting in the anatomy department and a letter from the school in Germany. She left Holland and moved to Madison during winter in 1976.

0:23:56	MB describes her relationship with John Harting and his advice to learn how to teach types of anatomy courses. She spent a year working in Ron Kaleel’s lab in optomology. The school of veterinary medicine was just beginning. She wanted to be hired to work as faculty in this school. She applied and got an interview. Describes the interview. 

0:27:14	MB was hired and it was the beginning of her career at Madison. Very exciting to work within this new school. Describes the office space they had before their building was finished. Once the building was finished, they created the school and were willing to do anything to make it work. 

0:29:20	MB describes the tenure process and her mentors. Everyone in her department was tenured. 

0:31:13	End of side. 

Tape 1/Side 2

0:31:14	MB talks about Pakistan and the opening of the Karakoram highway, her trip there. 

0:32:50	MB describes the culture of her department, a very collegial and close-knit department. As well as the culture of the school, how it has changed since the beginning: more dispersed. 

0:35:50	Discusses how their first dean influenced the organization of the building and how it helped to prevent polarization of the school. Forces them to see colleagues from other departments, good for the culture.

0:37:17	MB talks about the national reputation of her department and the school. Madison is in the top 5 of veterinary schools, 1 or 2 in research and gives other comparisons. 

0:39:11	Describes her research past, the general path of biomedical researchers. Switch from insect to mammalian research forced her to leave a group in which she was established. Discusses her other research communities, funding. For the past 8 to 10 years she has researched the brain and respiration, happiest here. 

0:41:50	How the brain changes with age to adapt to control of breathing is her main research. MB goes into more detail about this research. Involvement of sex hormones on the aspects of the nervous system and what it controls. Questions where this research could possibly go, considers this the best research she has done. 

0:46:46	MB considers her research relevant to not only her but also to humans in general. Collaborates with others on campus. Thinks she is a better scientist when working with others, way better than when alone. 

0:48:49	MB describes who she has collaborated with. Lou Haberly, Ruth Banker, Nadine Connor, and Bert Olson. All fit with science of breathing. Describes finding a collaboration and organizing it. 

0:53:49	MB talks about teaching responsibilities. Thinks it comes naturally to her, she is excited about and really enjoys it. Teaching the same course for 20-25 years, and it is a requirement so she has virtually taught all of the graduate students that have come through the school. Expects her students to want to know more about the nervous system and how it works. 

0:56:10	Discusses teaching versus research. In research she still has something to prove. 

0:57:18	MB tells about the committees she has served on in her department, the school and on campus- feels her amount of service comes from the nuns. Biological Division Committee. Elected positions, represented a community. University Committee. 

0:59:34	MB goes into detail about the University Committee, its role and duties on campus. 

1:02:04	End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1
		
1:02:17	Behan continues to talk about committee work, and her most recent position on the Provost Search Committee. 

1:02:49	The people of the committees were one of the most enjoyable aspects and MB has not been on a committee where politics played a significant role.

1:03:25	The climate for women on campus: MB says she has never been shy about participating. Has never felt discriminated against, MB describes why she feels this way and incorporates how her upbringing in Ireland impacts this feeling. 

1:04:43	MB feels the school has been very responsive and sensitive to this issue. She goes into detail about the Veterinary School and the ratios of the students. Talks about her own concerns and efforts to ensure that her female students are comfortable being women in science. 

1:05:42	MB discusses the problem of the profession and the dominant numbers of women in the student body. She feels there needs to be more of a balance in senior positions. The bigger problem is in academic veterinary medicine, to be successful it is hard to start and raise a family while maintaining a lab or research. 

1:06:34	MB describes the professional organizations in which she is a member. Society for Neuroscience, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sleep Research Society and the American Physiology Society. She does not play an active role but is a member. Her changes in research direction and lack of strength in a U.S. pedigree, she feels has held her back from climbing the ranks of the organizations. 

1:07:37	Behan has never been asked to be an editor but has published in several journals. She has served as an ad hoc reviewer. 

1:08:05	She used to not enjoy writing grants but had to change her attitude because she had to write to receive grants. Now she looks forward to writing grants, especially when she already has a grant in her hand. 

1:09:22	Behan describes the one period in which she did not have grant funding. The downsizing, lack of lab researchers, the loneliness.

1:10:09	Her only awards have been for teaching. The Nordon Distinguished Teaching Award. The Chancellor Teaching Award. The selection for the Chancellor’s award. 

1:11:49	MB discusses balancing her life. Flying planes with a club, gradually decided to build a plane but met her life partner instead of finishing. Rock climbing, her passion for many years. Describes her log cabin. Triathlons, squash, and mountain biking. MB is very competitive. Now she is training for a century in Wisconsin. 

1:15:48	Her parents are deceased, and had been going back to Ireland very frequently. Now she travels for work and sometimes for leisure. She prefers remote but comfortable trips. 

1:17:17	MB talks about her sister living in Canada, entomologist working for the government. Her sister will retire next year, MB will watch her sister’s retirement to see if that is what she wants. 

1:17:50	Her partner works for the state Historical Society. MB feels like it is a good match because they are willing to learn about the other’s field.

1:18:34	MB describes her dog, Cara, who is no longer living. Taking a break from pets for  the moment. 

1:19:45	MB leaves a final message to her audience about her life at the university. 

END