UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #786
CRAIG, ELIZABETH

CRAIG, Elizabeth (1946- )
Elizabeth Cavert Miller Professor, Steenbock Professor of Microbial Science; Chair, Department of Biochemistry
At UW: 1979-

Interviewed: 	2006	
Interviewer: 	Sandy Pfahler
Length: 	1 hour, 11 minute

Early education; College; Graduate study at Washington University; Postdocs; UW department of physiological chemistry; Research; Teaching; Department chair; Biological Divisional Committee; Campus climate for women; National Academy of Sciences; Honors and awards; Family.

First Interview Session (June 30, 2006): Digital File

Time	Keywords

00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:23	[Begin Tape 1/Side 1] Elizabeth Craig was born in New Hampshire.  Her parents worked in elementary education.  She and her brother received equal treatment within the family.

00:02:29	EC loved science as a child.  Her high school science teachers were influential.  She played basketball and tennis in high school.

00:04:44	EC went to the University of Rhode Island.  She paid most of her way by working at the MacDowell artists’ colony during summers.

00:07:45	She discusses her undergraduate experience at URI, where she majored in bacteriology.  She began doing research in the lab.  Her advisor encouraged her to go to graduate school.  

00:10:24	She went to Washington University.

00:12:38	EC found the adjustment to living in St. Louis very difficult, being very homesick. She describes her experience at Washington University.  She worked in a lab with David Schlessinger, who helped her develop into a scientist.  EC did research on messenger RNA degradation in bacteria.

00:17:27	EC never thought about becoming a professor; she expected to work as a lab technician.

00:18:20	She earned her PhD in four years. She married while in grad school and decided to stay in St. Louis while her husband did his internship. EC then did a three-year postdoc, after which she went on a bicycle trip in Europe.  She then received a fellowship to do a postdoc at the University of California at San Francisco; by this time she had a child.

00:21:41	EC talked about applying for academic positions and coming to UW. Her expertise with recombinant DNA made her attractive on the job market, but she didn’t want to raise her two children in a big city. She also wanted to go to a university where success would lead to tenure.

00:25:24	EC describes her interview with the department of physiological chemistry at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.  She ultimately took the job in 1979.

00:29:11	She talks about the department of physiological chemistry.  She was the only woman in the department but the chair, Harry Karavolas, treated her like everyone else.

00:31:32	[End side 2; begin side 2] Elizabeth Craig continues to talk about her early days in the department of physiological chemistry.  She discusses her lab space.

00:33:48	She was tenured within four years.  

00:35:13	EC talks about her research on proteins, gene regulation, and molecular chaperones.

00:40:34	She has had the same two NSF grants for the duration of her career at UW. She describes her research labs and a grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

00:42:01	EC does little collaborative work on campus.

00:42:42	She talks about her teaching. Her favorite course was teaching basic biochemistry in summer school.  EC discusses her service as chair of the biochemistry department.

00:46:43	She previously served as chair of the department of biomolecular chemistry from 1996 to 2002. EC also chaired the Biological Divisional Committee.

00:50:02	She characterizes the campus climate for women as “not great, not bad.”  She sees herself as a mentor for women in biomolecular chemistry.

00:52:45	EC thinks she was fortunate to have a core of women colleagues in her early years at UW.

00:55:37	The number of women in science has increased dramatically over the last fifteen years, but many women still find it difficult to move from a postdoc to a faculty position.

00:57:28	EC talks about her election to membership of the National Academy of Sciences. She also mentions some other honors and awards she has received, including University professorships and the Hilldale Award.

01:02:09	She talks about her family. [End tape 1; begin tape 2] She continues to talk about her family and her attempts to balance her career with family and leisure time.

01:06:45	She talks about feeling “lonely at the top,” and talks more about her family.

01:09:43	EC discusses her work with graduate students.

01:11:15	End of First Interview Session

End of Interview #786