UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #814
EICHHORN, SUSAN

EICHHORN, SUSAN (1939- )
Retired Research Program Manager, UW Botany Department
At UW: 1963-2001

Interviewed: 2006	
Interviewer: Sandy Pfahler
Length: 1.75 hours

Abstract: Childhood and early life in Deerfield, Illinois; public school in Deerfield and Highland Park; family background; undergraduate studies in math and biology at the University of Illinois; employment at UW; teaching high school in the Washington DC area; return to the UW Botany Department as academic staff; working with Professor Ray Evert on textbooks; research and literature searches; grant funding and budgets; balancing work and personal life, art shows.

Interview Session (September 8, 2006): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

0:01:01	Eichhorn was born in Highland Park, Illinois, and grew up on a family farm near Deerfield, Illinois.  She has four siblings.  She shares some experiences from her childhood.

0:2:20		She talks about the enjoyable experience of growing up on a farm and playing in the farm buildings and trees.  Her mom’s dinner bell.

0:3:51		SE talks about going to country school.  She was bored with the material in the latter part of her elementary school years.  Her love of reading.  The small town public library.

0:06:10		Eichhorn rode the bus to high school in Highland Park.  She found high school more challenging and enjoyable.  It was harder and she had to work to keep her grades up.  She feels the teachers were very good overall and the school has always been highly rated.

0:07:38	She talks about her parents’ encouragement to read and learn.  Both of her parents had attended college, though her mother did not finish.  Her grandparents on her father’s side also attended college.  Her parents helped the kids with schoolwork problems.

0:08:39	SE discusses the “college prep” track that she took in high school.  She had around 340 students in her class.  Physical education classes for girls and boys.

0:10:46	She talks about the homogeneity in her hometown of Deerfield.  Most of the population was white, Protestant.  At Highland Park, she met students who were Jewish or Italian.  High school cliques based on family wealth.

0:12:47	SE talks about some of the memorable and influential teachers she had in high school.  She felt prepared for college when the time came.

0:14:48	She attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.  She won a scholarship from the high school that paid for 1 semester.  She worked over the summer to earn money for school.

0:16:45	She talks about where her siblings went to college.

0:18:35	Eichhorn talks about her interest in math and biology.  She was uncertain about her career path and had no interest in being a teacher.  Peter Morrison, a friend of her parents, helped her get a job at UW doing data collection and office work for a scientist.   

0:22:20	She got married to Henry Eichhorn, who was working in the zoology lab on campus. He did a lot of the work to get the limnology laboratory established.

0:23:57	SE found a job working for a botany professor and started to make some connections with graduate students and teachers.  She found a full time position in botany in the fall of 1963 setting up botany teaching labs for several professors.  She held this job for 4 years.

0:26:19	She explains how she and her husband moved to Washington DC in 1967/68.  Her husband was going to work at the National Aquarium, but the aquarium never got built and the job dried up.  Eichhorn worked as a math and biology teacher at Yeshiva High School. She had two boys and about 12 girls in her classes.

0:28:40	She talks about the students she taught at the school.

0:31:07	SE moved back to Madison with her family and looked for a job in the UW Botany department.

0:31:22	End of Side.

Tape 1/Side 2

0:31:23	Eichhorn continues to discuss finding a job in the Botany department.  She was hired to help put together a textbook on the subject.  She needed to take courses toward a Master’s Degree.

0:32:59	She talks about graduate studies and coursework.  She had to make up some s	cience credits that she never had as an undergrad.

0:34:20	Research on tissues and plant structure for the textbook project.  

0:34:57	Her husband was in the military reserve.  He worked in Maryland for 17 years and they lived apart.  They traveled back and forth frequently. She talks about how they made the relationship work.

0:40:25	She talks about renting rooms to undergraduate students while her husband was away.

0:40:58	SE talks about her research and work with Professor Evert on the textbook.  In 1972, Evert was offered a job revising a different textbook and agreed so long as Eichhorn could also be part of the project.  She has been listed as co-author on several books with Evert over the years.  They recently did a 7th edition.

0:44:38	She explains the funding situation.  Her salary initially came from several sources, including Evert’s grants.  She was later funded through Letters and Science.

0:45:58	She talks about jealousy from other members of the faculty because Evert had funding and paid assistance.  Money in the department was very tight and other faculty did not have academic staff support.  Later controversy over the funding.

0:49:06	SE talks about helping maintain Evert’s grants and budgets.  Funding for graduate students. 

0:52:42	She talks about serving on a campus committee that studied the status of academic staff and granted permanent status.  The Area Review Committee.  

0:55:58	Eichhorn talks about the climate for women on the UW campus.  She feels that women were treated fairly in the Botany department.  Nearly 1/3 of the department was female at the time she left her job.

0:56:57	She discusses the academic staff in the department.  She talks about the difference between grant funded and department funded positions.  

0:58:06	She was a member of professional organizations, but did not partake of their activities.  She never felt that they were that useful to her.

0:58:57	SE explains that most of her time was spent working on textbook work.  University lawyers checked out and approved her work on the books.
	
1:00:31	She currently has emeritus status and works a great deal on textbook revisions.

1:02:29	End of Side.  End of Tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

1:02:30	She talks about her working routine with Evert.  He lives in Santa Barbara part of the year.  The first volume of a new book on plant anatomy was published in July 2006.

1:03:12	Eichhorn talks about doing literature research.  Electronic journals and internet research.  Inter-library loan.  She talks about the strength of the UW Library system.

1:06:52	She talks about the difficulty of balancing work and family life.  She has “virtually no life at all” when she is working on a book.  Setting priorities.  Her husband does not complain about her work load.  

1:08:38	Her husband had a mild stroke in June that affected his language capacity.  

1:10:42	She feels lucky to have her own good health.  She doesn’t have enough time for exercise, but is happy to have generally good health.

1:11:56	Eichhorn talks about the camaraderie of the graduate school years.  She often tells grad students to enjoy that time in their life.  She also talks about the benefits of having a spouse in a different field.  
					
1:16:34	She talks about making sure that researchers make some time for personal activities.  

1:18:25	Eichhorn relates a story about the Sterling Hall bombing in 1970.  She was questioned by the FBI because she was known to be working late in the labs frequently.  The building where her labs were was damaged by the blast.  Shards of glass were stuck in the door frame of her office.

1:20:40	She talks about being involved in the National Women’s Political Caucus in the 1970s.  Setting up an art show as a fund raising event at her home.  The Artful Women show has been held over 15 years and has grown into a popular and successful event.

1:33:58	End of Side.

Tape 2/Side 1

1:33:59	She continues to talk about her experiences with the art show.

1:37:22	End of Side.  End of Tape.  End of Interview.

END