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In Memoriam Denice Denton
Denice Denton, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Chancellor of the University of California at Santa Cruz, died on June 24, 2006 apparently of suicide. Her death should be a wake-up call for many reasons. Professor Denton earned her Ph.D. in a field where women are still poorly represented. Her first tenure-track job at the University of Wisconsin, Madison was complicated by antagonism from some senior male faculty who had her locked out of her "clean room" where she conducted her experiments. To her great credit she was able to resolve the problem by using existing factions in her department and college. Still, when offered a tenured position at the University of Washington, she took it. There she quickly advanced to professor and became Dean of the College of Engineering, one of the first women to hold that position (there were four others at the time), and the youngest.
At Washington she focused on creating a more diverse faculty and student body, and aggressively recruited women and faculty of color for the College of Engineering. Although her work became part of a campus-wide diversity effort, her role as dean was never the less difficult politically. Still, if the position of dean enabled her to bring about changes, her position as chancellor offered even more opportunities, especially at a campus like UC Santa Cruz. What went so very wrong?
We may never know the details, but as wage members we know that fighting injustice takes a heavy toll on women. Successful women are as often hated as admired. In Denice's case, she was always on the forefront fighting for women in engineering, in science, and in the academy along with devising means to increase their number along with students and faculty of color. The acrimony she received for her ideas and her success was undoubtedly compounded by her lesbianism. How much can a person bear? Equal treatment as a faculty member is still elusive for women. Lesbians are still too often shunned. The politics of running a university can be horrible as was Denice's experience. On top of all of this, her health was not at all robust.
As we greatly grieve her loss, it should remind us that the mission of wage is still very far from being realized. Denice Denton's death should serve to reactivate our commitment to justice for women in the academy, and to urge us to find many more ways to support those at the forefront of this effort. We have lost a great friend.
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