Oral history interview with M. Kathleen (Kathy) Detrano

Abstract

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).”