Browsing by Subject "Member of Technical Staff (MTS)"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Oral history interview with Anita B. Marsh
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-09) Marsh, Anita B.
    Anita Marsh majored in mathematics at Texas Tech and gained a master’s degree in mathematics at Northwestern University in Chicago in 1968, then took a position at Bell Laboratories (Naperville, IL) where she learned IBM assembly language on the job. One early assignment was creating a software emulator for the hardware of an ESS then in development. Marsh describes her experiences working part-time or flexible hours as a full Member of Technical Staff while raising children and lobbying for day care. Subsequent assignments were in internetworking, commercial UNIX, and 5ESS. In recognition of her technical achievements, she was made a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 1983 and retired from Bell in 1996. She describes her subsequent software work for Tellabs in wireless telephones and VOIP and for Arris in cable modems. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Barbara H. Hornbach
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-10) Hornbach, Barbara H.
    Barbara Hornbach attended Vassar College where she worked with pioneering computer scientist Winifred Asprey and led the local student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery. After her graduation in 1969, she began a career in software development and management with Bell Laboratories in Naperville, Illinois. The interview describes her technical work at Bell (on 4ESS and 5ESS) as well as participation in affirmative action committees and workshops within Bell. During 1980-84, Hornbach chaired a standardization sub-committee within CCITT dealing with human-machine interface standards for telephone switching systems. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Dana Becker Dunn
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2016-01-07) Dunn, Dana Becker
    Dana Becker Dunn graduated from a rural Illinois high school, then attended Southern Illinois University as a math major taking numerous computing courses and graduating in 1972. She joined Bells Labs as one of the last STA ‘courtship’ hires, completing a master’s in electrical engineering and computer science from Northwestern University. Her technical career began in operating systems programming, with a specialty in relational databases; then she was promoted into supervisory positions in the AT&T headquarters in New Jersey. As a Sloan Fellow she completed an executive MBA at MIT in 1984 then went to work for AT&T information systems division. Among her managerial responsibilities were connecting marketing and technical staffs; overseeing large operational groups in marketing and communications; and in 1994 separating Lucent Technologies from AT&T. She retired in 2001 as an officer of Avaya. She reflects on the transformation of women’s issues within AT&T, including a suggestion that with overt forms of discrimination largely banished, it may have ‘gone underground’ and be more difficult to locate. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Fran Chessler
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2016-01-14) Chessler, Fran
    Fran Chessler attended the University of Michigan as a General Motors Scholar, majoring in mathematics and psychology and graduating in 1970. She went to work at Bell Labs Naperville, working on assembly-language programming to collect call data for 1ESS. She discusses the gender biases in the STA and MTS hiring grades. Promoted to MTS she did a master’s at Northwestern University. She discusses affirmative action and the distinct culture of Bell Labs Indian Hill/Naperville. In part owing to connections from the Men and Women in the Work Environment workshops, she moved to the computer center department doing systems programming on IBM computers. She describes an effective management style by her supervisor, Dana Dunn. She moved into a department chief position at Western Electric’s network system division, and compares affirmative action there to Bell Labs. In the mid-1980s she experienced unsettled times in AT&T computer systems, then returned to Bell Labs (all in Chicago) as a supervisor. In moving to the business side as senior product manager, she completed an executive MBA at Northwestern University; and retired from AT&T in 2001. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Helen Ann Bauer
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-08) Bauer, Helen Ann
    Helen Bauer studied computer science and mathematics at Purdue University, graduating in 1972 and then starting work as a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories in Naperville, Illinois. The interview describes Bell’s affirmative action committees and workshops and its corporate culture. Bauer relates her experiences moving into managerial positions beginning in 1977, finding role models in co-workers, organizing support groups for women in management, and relating anecdotes about challenges. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Jo Anne Miller
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2016-01-04) Miller, Jo Anne
    Jo Anne Miller graduated in December 1967 with a degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan, where she had experience with computer programming. She took a job in Boston at GTE Sylvania working on military projects, then moved to St. Louis (when her husband was drafted) and ran a computer center at Parks College of St. Louis University, then did research at University of Colorado where she worked on a Master’s degree. She was recruited (a second time) by Bell Labs and began work at Bell Labs Naperville in March 1976, as a Member of Technical Staff working in software restructuring for electronic switching systems. She describes her experience with affirmative action, the women’s movement, and work culture and career expectations at Bell Labs. In 1978 she became a technical supervisor for 5ESS software development, relating short-term rotational experiences with installing 5ESS in California and in southern Illinois. She describes challenges advocating for part-time managerial positions, child care, and suggests there were changes in the support for affirmative action in the 1980s. Working for the Western Electric organization in the mid-1980s, she completed an executive MBA at the University of Chicago. After leaving Bell she became involved with MentorNet in 2003 and in investing in women-backed businesses. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Karen Coates
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-14) Coates, Karen
    Karen Coates grew up in rural northwest Washington state, then graduated from Mills College (Oakland CA) with a degree in mathematics. She describes lessons learned in running FORTRAN programs at nearby Cal State Hayward, a summer internship at IBM, and then work with UC Berkeley’s Laura Gould that led to computer-science teaching at Mills and at Stanford University. Continuing her computer science education at Northwestern University, she met many Bell Labs women working there on master’s degrees and applied herself for a job at Bell Labs. She began work at Bell Labs Naperville in 1974 as a Member of Technical Staff assigned to 4ESS then moved to the Computation Center and worked on the Bell Laboratories Network, an early packet-switched network. She describes working at Bell’s Murray Hill (NJ) facility with Bjarne Stroustrop, during the time he developed “C with Classes” which evolved into C++. Returning to Naperville/Indian Hills, she took up managerial positions in the networking project and then in switching-system applied research. She relates her experiences with the 1970s women’s movement and the supportive network of women colleagues. She left Bells Labs in 1985 and moved to California, where she worked for a subsidiary of TRW on military intelligence systems; a communications company called Octel; a startup venture; and a health-care enterprise celled Omnicell. She describes subtle transformations in gender discrimination in the 1980s and in Silicon Valley. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with M. Kathleen (Kathy) Detrano
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-17) Detrano, M. Kathleen
    Kathy Detrano describes her childhood and single-sex Catholic education that led her to major in mathematics at Chestnut Hill College (near Philadelphia). After graduating, she came to Bell Laboratories in the late 1960s initially to work on the Safeguard Ballistic Missile Defense System, then moved to database access and quality control assignments as a manager. She describes Bell’s affirmative action programs, including several anecdotes about male managers, including those who supported women. The interview discusses specific strategies women at Bell used to confront and diffuse gender discrimination. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”