The University of Michigan isn’t kidding around when it claims it fosters the “leaders and best”. Everyday, we’re surrounded by intelligent, driven leaders, from our classmates to our roommates, to our faculty members. But when you spend pretty much every day cramped up in your dorm room staring at giant piles of homework, it can be hard to feel like you’re one of them. Fortunately, there are countless women who sat in lectures in the same lecture halls we do, relaxed on the same Diag we do, and were probably cramped up in some of the exact same dorm rooms as us–and these women went on to do amazing things! Here are just five of the many women who serve as inspirations to us U of M girlies as we look towards our futures. These women show us that with hard work, we really do have the capability to change the world.
1. Valerie Jarrett
After graduating from U of M Law School in 1981, Valerie Jarrett went on to work for some people you might have heard of… like this guy named Barack Obama. She was one of his three Senior Advisors and was Assistant for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs during his presidency. This means that of all the people in government, she’s one of the ones Obama regards the most highly. That speaks volumes to her work ethic and intellect! Jarrett holds some other cool positions too, like chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls and co-chair of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. If you don’t know exactly what a big deal her position is, she has a staff of roughly three dozen people, has full-time protection by the Secret Service, and (probs the coolest) had a cameo role as herself on The Good Wife. That’s what I call a successful career.
2. Marcia Milgrom Dodge
Marcia Milgrom Dodge is one of the GOATs when it comes to musical theatre, and, of course, she learned everything she knows at U of M (well…probably not everything). She graduated from here in 1977 with a degree in Speech Communication and Theatre. Since then, she’s directed and choreographed a revival of Ragtime on Broadway, which which received 7 Tony Award nominations–one of which was Best Director of a Musical. She also put the show on at the Kennedy Center and got four 2010 Helen Hayes Awards, and, once again, one of them was Best Director, Resident Musical. If you’re at all into musical theatre, it’s definitely super cool to be able to say that you were educated at the same university as Dodge.
3. Alexa Canady
Alexa Canady was the first African American and the first woman to be a neurosurgeon in the United States, which is about as impressive as it gets. Before this, she graduated from–you guessed it–U of M, with a major in zoology, and went on to attend the med school here as well. After that, she completed her residency at University of Minnesota, where she became the first African American female neurosurgery resident, and then the first African American female neurosurgeon. And, in 1987, she came back to Michigan as the chief of neurosurgery at the children’s hospital! (Successful people just can’t seem to stay away from U of M!) Before retiring in 2001, she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame (1989) and awarded the American Medical Women’s Association President’s Award (1993). She’s quoted as saying, “The greatest challenge I ever faced in becoming a neurosurgeon was believing it was possible.” That’s something to hang up on your desk!
4. Isabella Karle
Isabella Karle is yet another Michigan alum who overcame the odds and ended up literally changing the world. Her parents were both Polish immigrants (her dad was a house painter and her mom was a seamstress) and she not only went to U of M on a full scholarship, but also got a BS in physical chemistry at the age of 19. After that, she stayed here and got a Masters of Science and a Ph.D. No pressure, guys. After being educated at U of M, Karle worked on the Manhattan Project during WWII, and came up with a way to get plutonium chloride out of a mixture with plutonium oxide. This was a really big deal and she received the Annual Achievement Award of the Society of Women Engineers, the Federal Woman’s Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Science and Engineering. She was also elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was the first woman to win the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science. Classic U of M students, literally demolishing that good ol’ glass ceiling.
5. Martha Minow
You probably don’t remember Barack Obama saying “when I was at Harvard Law School I had a teacher who changed my life — Martha Minow” during his 2008 campaign, but he sure as heck did. And guess where this influential woman went to college? The greatest university in the world, of course! She graduated from U of M with a BA in 1975, then went on to get her Masters and JD from Harvard and Yale respectively. She has now taught at the Michigan of the East (Harvard) since 1981, and is the Dean of the law school. She is an accomplished author and considered a leading advocate for equity in education. And her homie Barack nominated her in 2009 to the board of Legal Services Corporation, which is a bipartisan organization that helps low-income Americans with civil legal services. That, my friends, is the Michigan Difference. Go blue!
Photos courtesy of USA Today, Philadelphia Style Magazine, National Institutes of Health, Iventricity, and Jewish Currents.