Arkansas Agricultural , Mechanical , and Normal College
Where was Gloria Long Anderson educated from 1957 to 1958?
Gloria Long Anderson Gloria Long Anderson ( born November 5 , 1938 ) is the Fuller E . Callaway Professor of Chemistry at Morris Brown College , and its vice president for academic affairs . She has served as interim president of Morris Brown , and as vice chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting . She was a pioneer in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , and is known for her studies of fluorine-19 and solid rocket propellants . Early life . Anderson was born November 5 , 1938 , in Altheimer , Arkansas , where she was raised . She is the fourth child , and only girl , in a family of six children . In an interview with Jeanette E . Brown , she explains that she did not feel different , despite being the only girl , because I mostly played sports along with them , like basketball , softball , and that kind of stuff . ( ... ) My youngest brother would play dolls with me and the rest of them would not , but you know , I really didnt think too much about it . She is the daughter of Elsie Lee Foggie Long , a seamstress , and Charles Long , a sharecropper , with a tenth and third grade education , respectively . They lived in a mixed-race , segregated farming community . Later , both her parents worked at the Pine Bluff Arsenal , her mother in the Armament Division and her father as a janitor . Growing up , she was expected to help with farm work , and years later , explained : In those days we didnt know we were living in poverty . Her parents prioritized her education ( and the education of her brothers with three of her brothers also attended the University of Arkansas ) . They allowed her to start elementary school at the age of four ( they didnt check very carefully in those days ) , by which time she had already learned to read . She attended segregated public schools , including the Altheimer Training School . She was an excellent student who skipped grades , graduating high school valedictorian at age 16 , in 1954 . The faculty at Altheimer Trainer School was entirely African American , and was highly encouraging of their students . She explained that the teachers pushed us to succeed , to excel , because they had a vested interest in turning out successful , well-educated students . They cared , intimately , about us doing well . The school offered very little science education , and very little math . Very few jobs were available for African American women in Altheimer , so Anderson chose to attend college , hoping to pursue a career . She hadnt planned to pursue a career a science , and had instead considered careers in physical education and interior decorating . Education . Bachelors Degree . Anderson started studying at the Arkansas Agricultural , Mechanical , and Normal College , a state-supported school for African Americans . She received a small scholarship in her first year , followed by a Rockefeller Foundation College Scholarship between 1956 and 1958 in recognition of her stellar grades . As part of the scholarship , she worked as a teaching assistant , helping in the chemistry classes . She also worked during the summer , working in a candy factory in Chicago between her junior and senior years . Despite not having studied chemistry in high school , she had initially signed up to the chemistry courses on a dare , because chemistry was considered to be the most difficult major . She graduated with a degree in chemistry and mathematics in 1958 , as the valedictorian , summa cum laude , first in a class of 237 . Dr . Martin Luther King Jr . was the commencement speaker at her graduation , and he was a source of inspiration throughout her life . Though she was accepted to graduate school at Stanford University , she was unable to study there for lack of funding . She was then rejected for a position at the Ralston Purina Company as a chemist because she was African-American . She later said that they did me a favor by not hiring me , but I didnt realize it at the time . Masters Degree . With no other options , Anderson taught geography , reading and arithmetic in seventh grade at a school in Altheimer for six months ( even though , by her own admission , I didnt even know any more about geography than the students did ) . She was then offered a National Science Foundation grant by Kimuel Alonzo Huggins , the chair of the Atlanta University chemistry department , to study for a Masters degree in chemistry . Upon her marriage to Leonard Sinclair Anderson in 1960 , she almost dropped out of the program due to financial difficulty , despite the fellowship . Dr . Huggins intervened again , and provided her with research funding so that she could continue studying in his lab . She accepted , even she didnt particularly like his research topic . Anderson earned her Masters degree in organic chemistry at Atlanta in 1961 , with a thesis supervised by Dr . Huggins on a novel synthesis process of butadiene , titled : Studies on 1- ( 4-Methylphenyl ) -1,3-Butadiene . She taught for a year at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg . Anderson then moved back to Atlanta , to Morehouse College . She was contacted by Henry Cecil Ransom McBay , the father of black chemists in the United States , who had made it his mission to seek out and train talented African American chemists . Anderson worked for him as a chemistry instructor and research assistant for two years . In her own words , Anderson loved teaching organic chemistry , because , first of all , I learned a whole lot of organic chemistry while I was teaching it . McBay encouraged her to pursue her doctoral studies . PhD . Anderson began her doctoral studies at the University of Chicago ( McBays alma mater ) in 1965 , and received a research and teaching assistantship . In her first year , she was the only Black , full-time organic chemistry student . She tutored white women chemistry students in her first year , but decided to focus on herself when she realized that , due to the prevalent racism of the time , they had advantages she did not have . In her interview with Jeannette E . Brown , she recounts an incident in which she failed a first-year exam ( prelims , the first time I had ever failed anything in my life ) and received the recommendation that she should not take it over . Though everyone in the class had failed the prelim , most of them received the recommendation to take it over . When she confronted her advisor , he told her that she had achieved the second highest score in the group . Because of this , Anderson spent the summer looking for a job in Chicago , and poring through her physical organic chemistry textbook . She later received a phone call from the University of Chicago , with a job offer to work with Dr . Leon Stock as a research assistant . To test her skills , he set her the assignment which none of his students had so far managed to complete : to make 9-fluora-anthracene from a procedure detailed in a French paper . Anderson , never having studied French , went to the bookstore , bought a French dictionary , translated the paper , and carried out the experiment successfully on her first try . She later took the prelim test again , and passed . She had enjoyed her experience in Dr . Stocks lab , so she continued her research with him , working on the nuclear magnetic resonance and CF infrared frequency shifts of fluorine-19 , and published at least one paper before she had completed her dissertation ( which they wrote over the weekend ) . Anderson would work in the lab during the day , then on her dissertation at night at home . She was a pioneer in the field of fluorine Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ( NMR ) spectroscopy ( didnt nobody know how to operate it but me ) . Throughout her time at the University of Chicago , she was mentored by Thomas Cole ( who later became president of Clark Atlanta University ) . Cole was working as a teaching assistant , and was the one who taught her the basics of NMR . Anderson received her physical organic chemistry Ph.D . in 1968 . Her thesis was titled : 19F Chemical Shifts For Bicyclic and Aromatic Molecules . In the paper which resulted from her thesis , she coins the term substituent chemical shift . Career . Academia . In 1968 , Anderson chose to conduct her post-doctoral research at a historically Black college ( it didnt make a difference which one ) in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr . in April of that year , and considered this her contribution to the American civil rights movement . She knew at the time that this choice was considered by some of her friends to be professional suicide , and she herself believes that she could have accomplished much more in a different setting . However , she was firm in her resolution , and turned down offers from majority white universities over the course of her career . In her interview with Jeannette E . Brown , she explained her motivation : I wanted to go to a Black college to allow the students to have the opportunity to get the kind of education that I had gotten ; because I felt coming from where I came from that it was almost impossible for me to get the kind of training I had gotten . ( ... ) I squeezed through the wire mesh fence . On Dr McBays advice , Anderson applied for the position of chair at Morris Brown Colleges department of chemistry in Atlanta . She was awarded the position , and became associate professor at the college . As chair of the chemistry department , she made substantial improvements so that it could be approved by the American Chemical Society . Despite receiving other offers of employment , Anderson chose to remain at Morris Brown because of the educational philosophy at Morris Brown , in that Morris Brown takes in some of the brightest students there are , but at the same time , Morris Brown allows students who are not in upper echelon to come in here . On top of her teaching commitments , starting in the summer of 1969 Anderson carried out post-doctoral research at the Georgia Institute of Technology , working with Dr . Charles L . Liotta on Studies on the mechanism of epoxidation . Anderson explains that when she joined Morris Brown , the Vice President of Academic Affairs told her that it was a teaching institution , and that if she wanted to carry out research , you do that on your own time . So , she says : I did it in on my own time . I worked in the evenings and on Saturdays and Sundays . ( ... ) I was determined to do [ research ] . But more importantly , I love research , and I still love research . Anderson continued her research continued on fluorine-19 and its interactions with other atoms , using it to probe synthesis reactions . Andersons research has also covered epoxidation mechanisms , solid-fuel rocket propellants , antiviral drug synthesis , fluoridated pharmaceutical compounds , and substituted amantadines . Her work has been applied to antiviral drugs . She received patents for her work in 2001 and 2009 . Throughout her career , she struggled to receive funding , and attributes much of this to the racism of the time . She used money from her own salary to fund her research . In her 2009 interview with Jeanette E . Brown , she explains : it became clear to me that if I was at Morris Brown College , a college with did not have a history of research in chemistry or biology like that , that nobody was going to give me any money for research . ( ... ) So , I decided , well , Im going to do research no matter what . ( ... ) I paid [ students ] out of my pocket , and I charged that on my credit card . Even today , I dont know how much I owe the patent lawyers , but I have paid for all those patents stuff , myself . In 1973 , she became the Fuller E . Callaway Professor of Chemistry and Chair , which she returned to in 1990 after serving as Dean of Academic Affairs from 1984 to 1989 . Anderson worked as a National Science Foundation Research Fellow ( 1981 ) and Research Consultant ( 1982 ) for the Lockheed Georgia Corporation , and later as SCEE Faculty Research Fellow for the U.S Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at the Edwards Air Force Base ( 1984 ) . She also worked as a consultant for IPECS Holland , a Dutch chemical and pharmaceutical research company ( 1990 ) . Anderson became Morris Browns interim president twice , from 1992 to 1993 and in 1998 , and was Dean of Science and Technology from 1995 to 1997 . Since 1999 and , she is the Fuller E . Callaway Professor of Chemistry . Twice , she served as interim president of Morris Brown . As of 2011 , Anderson works as assistant to the president of Morris Brown College . Anderson was named among the brightest scientists in Atlanta , Georgia in 1983 by Atlanta Magazine . She was also named among the Outstanding Black Educators in Atlanta in the 1991 edition of SuccessGuide . Outside of academia . Outside of academia , Anderson was appointed by President Richard Nixon for a six-year term on the Corporation for Public Broadcastings ( CPB ) board in 1972 . In actuality , she served seven years because of a delay in the confirmation of her successor . While at the CPB , she also served as chair for committees on Minority Training , Minorities and Women , and Human Resources Development , and later as vice chair of the board from 1977 to 1979 . Anderson actively worked to encourage positive portrayals of minorities in public broadcasting . Throughout her career , Anderson has held many board and committee leadership positions , including as chair of the Greater Atlanta Public Broadcasting Study Committee ( 1974-1976 ) , as Vice president of the Public Broadcasting Atlanta Board ( 1980-1982 ) , and at Morris Brown College , Chair of the Promotion and Tenure Ad Hoc Appeals Committee ( 2000 ) , Chair of the Academic Planning Task Force ( 2003 ) , Chair of the Faculty Retention Task Force ( 2003 ) and Chair of the Academic Affairs Council ( 2004 ) . She has also been on an advisory committee for the U.S Food and Drug Administration . Personal life . She married Leonard Sinclair Anderson , a schoolteacher in 1960 . In Chicago , while Anderson was studying for her PhD , Leonard attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music , graduating with a Masters degree . Talking about her marriage , Anderson said : at that time , you know , we had not been liberated , so we didnt know we werent supposed to be cooking and cleaning and all that . I did all that , as well as I went through graduate school . I was married . I came home . I cooked and I cleaned and ironed and all of that when I was married . Leonard and Gloria divorced in 1977 . Anderson has one son , Gerald ( b . 1961 ) . In her interview with Jeanette E . Brown , Anderson explained : I have always had to prove myself wherever I went . I had to prove myself in Chicago . When I proved myself , I didnt have any m ore trouble . When I went to Georgia Tech as a post-doc , I had to prove myself . After I proved myself , I didnt have any problem . ( ... ) The point is , they didnt pay me attention , because they didnt know I knew anything . They didnt think I knew what I was talking about . It has always been that way whenever I present myself in chemistry . Anderson is quoted as saying , to a group of young scientists , [ You ] can do anything that you want to do . You can be anything that you want to be . However , you must be determined . You must work hard . You must not let anyone define who you are and what you can do . She adds , As Dr . Martin Luther King , Jr . said at my college commencement , and I paraphrase , Dont go out to be the best black scientist , Go out to be the best scientist . Honors . Anderson is a member of the American Chemical Society , the National Institute of Science , and the National Science Teachers Association . She has received numerous honors and awards , including : - Rockefeller Scholarship , ( 1956-1958 ) - Sixth Edition Award , Atlanta Chapter , National Association of Media Women ( 1978 ) - Chairladys Award , Atlanta Chapter , National Association of Media Women ( 1978 ) - Public Broadcasting Service Award , Atlanta Chapter , National Association of Media Women ( 1978 ) - Outstanding Black Women , the Utopian Club ( 1979 ) - Faculty Industrial Research Fellowship , National Science Foundation ( 1981 ) - Certificate of Appreciation , State of Georgia ( 1982 ) - Scroll of Honour from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women ( 1983 ) - Faculty Research Fellowship , Southeastern Centre for Electrical Engineering Education , Air Force Office for Scientific Research ( 1984 ) - Appreciation Award , Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory ( 1984 ) - Presidential Citation in Recognition of Exemplary Experiences that Honor My Alma Mater , National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education ( 1986 ) - Alumni All-Star Excellence Award in Education , University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff ( 1987 ) - YWCA Salute to Women of Achievement ( 1989 ) - UNCF Distinguished Scholar Award , United Negro College Fund ( 1989-1990 ) - Women of Color in the Struggle , A Consortium of Doctors LTD ( 1991 ) - A Salute to Black Mothers : For Outstanding Contributions to the Black Community , Concerned Black Clergy of Metro Atlanta , Inc . ( 1992 , 1998 ) - Proclamation , Gloria Long Anderson Day , City of Atlanta , Georgia ( 1993 ) - Outstanding Georgia Citizen , State of Georgia ( 1998 ) - Scroll of Honor Award , University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff ( 2002 ) She received many teaching awards while at Morris Brown College , including : - Outstanding Service Award , Special Services Students , Morris Brown College ( 1970 ) - Outstanding Teacher , Senior Class , Morris Brown College ( 1976 ) - Outstanding Service Award , Student Assistance Program , Morris Brown College ( 1977 ) - Teacher of the Year Award ( 1983 ) - Faculty/Staff Hall of Fame , Senior Class , Morris Brown College ( 1983 ) - Special Service Award , Morris Brown College ( 1983 ) - Appreciation Award , Upward Bound Program , Morris Brown College ( 1983 ) - Appreciation Plaque , PREP Class of 1985 , Morris Brown College ( 1985 ) - Service Above Self Award , TRIO programs , Morris Brown College ( 1985 ) - Appreciation Award , Scholars Restaurant , Morris Brown College ( 1989-1990 ) - Appreciation Trophy , Morris Brown College Upward Bound Program ( 1991 ) - Outstanding Education Award , West Georgia Chapter , Morris Brown College National Alumni Association ( 1999 ) A number of appreciation plaques have also been dedicated in her honor : - Congratulatory Plaque , Arkansas A . M . & N . College Alumni Association ( 1973 ) - Appreciation Plaque , Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium ( 1977 ) - Appreciation Plaque , Task Force on Minorities in Public Broadcasting ( 1978 ) - Appreciation Plaque , Metro SYETP , DeKalb County SYETP , and Upward Bound ( 1985 ) - Appreciation Plaque , Martin/Altheimer School Reunion ( 1986 ) - Plaque , Achievement , 120th Founders Day Celebration , University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff ( 1993 ) - Appreciation Plaque , Morris Brown College TRIO Programs ( 1996 , 1997 ) - Recognition Plaque , Morris Brown College ( 1998 ) - Appreciation Plaque , In appreciation for Faculty Leadership , Morris Brown College Faculty ( 2004 )