乐播传媒

Two graduates recall when they were the only female math undergrads at CU Boulder

For Ann Lowdermilk and Marlene Pratto, talent in mathematics always felt like the most normal thing in the world. But many of their male classmates and math professors at the 乐播传媒 Boulder in the late 1950s and early 鈥�60s weren鈥檛 quite sure what to make of the aliens in their midst.

鈥淢arlene and I were the only two 鈥榮kirts鈥� in Hellems Hall,鈥� recalls Lowdermilk (Math鈥�60), of Denver. 鈥淲e usually sat together, and they didn鈥檛 know what to do with two women; they didn鈥檛 even know what to do with one woman!鈥�

But there were professors who not only welcomed the two young women, but encouraged them, including the late Arne Magnus, who created an independent study program for them, and Robert McKelvey. Magness eventually became chair of mathematics at Colorado State University and McKelvey finished his career at the University of Montana.

鈥淲e had all men in our classes,鈥� says Pratto (Math鈥�60), who has lived in Greensboro, North Carolina since 1969. 鈥淎 lot of them were older than we were, returning veterans. I think they mostly ignored us. We didn鈥檛 study with them.鈥�

Lowdermilk does recall at least one time when she stirred the attention of a male classmate: when she returned for her senior year wearing an engagement ring.

鈥淭he young man sitting behind me said something and I said, 鈥榊es, I鈥檓 engaged,鈥欌�� she recalls. After a brief pause, he sighed and said, 鈥楾o think I had just about screwed up enough courage to ask you to coffee鈥︹�欌��

But both Pratto and Lowdermilk were used to being fish out of water at a time when far fewer women went to college and those who did typically went into nursing, education or home economics.

Even in high school, they were the odd women out. But if anything, being in the minority gave them more, not less, confidence.

Attending Smiley Junior High School and Denver East High School, Lowdermilk was smart enough to earn full-ride scholarships to both Colorado College (CC) and CU Boulder. The CC offer came in first, and she accepted. But she believed CU Boulder鈥檚 Department of Math was better, and she was never in doubt when its offer came in.

鈥淚 ditched the CC scholarship and took the one at CU. My advisor said I should not do that, and I said, 鈥楯ust watch me,鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淲hen you were a woman in an all-male area, you had to learn to simply stand up for yourself. You couldn鈥檛 just fade back in the corner.鈥�

Pratto credits a seventh-grade teacher in Pueblo, Miss Seacat, for sparking her interest in math and science.听

鈥淪he was a little person, but she made science so dynamic and so interesting. I just loved it,鈥� she says.

She was soon besting the boys in math competitions. She was thrilled when her high-school math teacher John Armstrong (a CU Boulder alumnus) convinced the powers that be to provide 鈥渕ath analysis鈥濃�攁nalogous to calculus鈥攊n time for her to take the course her senior year.

When the time came to go to college, she had no option to go out of state or attend a private school, so she faced a choice between CU Boulder, Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Mines.

鈥淲hen (a Mines representative) came to Pueblo Central (High School), he said you鈥檒l double our enrollment of women if you come. That didn鈥檛 sound too good,鈥� Pratto recalls. 鈥淚鈥檇 been to CU for Engineering Days and as part of the all-state orchestra, and I liked it.鈥�

Like Lowdermilk, she received a scholarship to attend CU Boulder in mathematics.

The two women met the summer before their freshman year while taking placement exams and remained friends throughout their CU Boulder careers and beyond.

Lowdermilk worked full adult shifts in payload control during the summer for United Airlines, where her father worked. After graduating from CU Boulder, she went to work in the operations department of Martin Marietta in Denver.

鈥淢y last day was May 6, 1961, the day Alan Shepard went up into space and came down 15 minutes later,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 would have stayed longer, but as women did at that time, I married and followed my husband, who was a highway contractor. If my husband had not traveled all over the听western states, I would have gone on to get advanced degrees.鈥�

After that, she moved to Colorado鈥檚 Western Slope, and later rural Utah, to raise a family while her husband helped build I-70.听听

鈥淚 was a real city girl living with a two-year-old and a baby in a town with 300 registered Mormon souls in Emory, Utah, and the surrounding area,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 learned how to can, bake bread, quilt, all things I鈥檇 never have any association with before. But that鈥檚 what women did down there.鈥�

Pratto worked as a summer trainee in mathematics at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute for Science and Technology) from her sophomore year on and accepted a full-time position upon graduation. As in school and college, she had few women colleagues.

鈥淥ne day I was handed a book and told, 鈥楾omorrow we鈥檒l program the computer.鈥� I said, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 a computer? What鈥檚 a program?鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淭he next day I sat down with the guy I was working with and wrote a program, and that鈥檚 how we learned.鈥�

In 1969, her husband took a faculty position at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and she decided to retire from programming.

鈥淭hat lasted until about December, when I thought, 鈥楾his is Dullsville, U.S.A.鈥� 鈥� I called the local technical college鈥濃�攁nd historically Black university鈥斺�淣orth Carolina A&T, which had the largest Black engineering school in the country.鈥�

Asked if she could teach Fortran to engineering faculty, she said yes and began teaching part-time. Eventually, the mother of young children began working from home on programming projects from her dining room table, creating the school鈥檚 computer registration system, among other things.

Both long retired, the two friends remain bullish on women and girls studying and entering STEM fields.

鈥淢ath is one of the best degrees you can get. It sets you up to do a whole bunch of things. You learn to think at least somewhat logically and can solve problems,鈥� Pratto says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of a better major, then or now.鈥澨�