“Voices from Castle Point”

During senior year, students often register for the minimum necessary number of credits to complete their major requirements. In addition to doing so, I also had to take one more class to fulfill my Social Science minor requirements. There were a few to choose from, but one in particular stood out: “Women and Gender in American History. ” I asked around and found out that this course has not been offered since 2008. After getting in touch with the course instructor, Professor Lindsey Swindall, I learned that the class will cover the experiences of women in America from the Pre-Colonial era to the early 21st century. Looking back, I am glad to have registered for this class as it has been the most engaging out of all my other classes this semester.

Throughout American history, minority groups have faced variable levels of discrimination and inequality. While things have been improving for women, inequalities such as the wage gap for women in STEM have persisted. Not unlike other STEM institutions, Stevens has made strides in leveling the playing field. For people questioning the validity of feminism in the 21st century, I would point them to this statistic: female students only made up 29% of Stevens undergraduate enrollment during Fall of 2020.

In fact, it was not until 1971 that Stevens opened its doors to female applicants. As such, it is imperative that we continue to foster an educational environment that empowers women, especially women of color. What better way to truly understand the experiences of women at Stevens than to listen to their stories? This is in fact possible thanks to the Samuel C. Williams Library’s oral history collection, “Voices from Castle Point.” 

Curated and maintained by Leah Loscutoff, Head of Collections and Special Archives, the oral history collection captures and preserves stories from Stevens alumni and faculty. As of now, the “Voices from Castle Point” is home to fourteen audio recordings of prominent Stevens members. Among them is Linda Vollkommer-Lynch, who is the first tenured female faculty and first female athletics coach at Stevens. Martha Connolly, who was an alumnus of the first coed class in Stevens, was the first person to be interviewed by Loscutoff. When asked about the scope of the collection, Locustoff responded, “Being the only person working on the project has been a challenge and limits what I can really do with it, so having this collaboration will be extremely helpful moving forward!”

Under Professor Swindall’s guidance, my classmates and I participated in a collaborative project with the library to expand upon the current collection. Each student was assigned a Stevens alumnus or faculty member to interview. These audio interviews will now be featured in “Voices from Castle Point” so that current students can learn from the stories of those who came before them.

My assigned interview is Dr. Kathryn Abel, who is the Program Lead for Undergraduate Engineering Program/Undergraduate Industrial and Systems Engineering Program at Stevens. Not only has Dr. Abel been a professor at Stevens for over two decades, but she is also a Stevens alumna through and through. Dr. Abel has obtained her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and her master’s in Technology Management. She then went on to complete her doctoral degree in Applied Psychology and Technology Management. She is also involved in various curriculum and academic committees. When asked whether Stevens culture has changed since she was a student, Dr. Abel responded that the diversity of incoming students has improved but the supportive aspect of the Stevens community has remained the same. The full recording of Dr. Abel’s interview will soon be available on the Stevens library website. 

Other interviews that will be conducted over the next few weeks include Professor Susan Schept, Professor Svetlana Malinovskaya, Olivia Schreiber ‘18, and Kaitlin Gili ‘20. Computer Science major, Nidhi Parekh, who is currently a student of Swindall’s, will be interviewing alumnus Gili. When asked about why she elected to take this class, Parekh maintained that she wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the history of gender issues and how they manifest today. She also added, “My favorite part about doing this interview was that I would be the interviewer and I could come up with any questions I chose.” It is anticipated that this oral history collection will only continue to grow as Loscutoff engages more departments and students in the process.