Letters to grandma: A comparison of generational perspectives of women’s growth as higher education faculty

Abstract

This ethnographic compilation is the result of a course exercise in qualitative research. A current student of Texas Tech University interviewed an 87-year-old faculty member from the 1950s, comparing her experiences to those of the author in similar, present-day academic environments. The author developed the format of the paper as letters between a young faculty member and her experienced grandmother. Results of the study reflect many similarities between the experiences of past female faculty members and female faculty of today; the exercise does convey, however, many advances for women in the academic culture as well. Finally, the recorded experiences of the older woman support those scenarios highlighted in the study of higher education’s history.