Women in Lehigh Graduate Education

Wilson’s interest in foreign languages began during her undergraduate career at Moravian College. She studied Latin, German, and English, in addition to her minors in math and history. Wilson went on to Lehigh for her Master’s degree. Wanting to branch out from Education courses, she decided to major in History since it was the only subject field that sparked her interest and was offered at night. She attended Lehigh while the ‘4’oclock rule’ was still in place: women were not allowed on campus before 4pm. During her interview with Steve Wolff for In the Age of Steel: Oral Histories from Bethlehem Pennsylvania, Wilson elaborated on her connection to history: “I liked history very much. And I feel that—I did teach some history at Liberty High School during the war: World History and American History. And I feel that the work I took in history was very useful; it made my life more interesting.” She was the only woman at the 1932 Commencement Ceremony. Graduating during the Great Depression, Wilson’s work life was soon altered. She taught an entire month without pay to keep the school afloat and endured infrequent paychecks throughout the following years. It was not until World War II that she saw stability once again. Wilson was amongst many in Bethlehem who were afraid that Bethlehem Steel would make the community a target for bombing during the war. She, along with other teachers, partook in an emergency first aid course in preparation.  Wilson taught six classes a day at Liberty High School, in German, with class sizes of 40 to 50 kids for 40 years. After retiring in 1970, she joined the Garden Club, became Federation Chair of Women’s Club, worked at the Morvian Museum, and volunteered for Meals on Wheels. Wilson spent most of her life in Bethlehem since it had always been her home. 

Before attending Lehigh, Mary Frances Berkemeyer received her bachelor’s degree from Cedar Crest College in 1930. She taught English and German at Northampton High School and English at Harrison-Morton Middle School. Berkemeyer became an active Bethlehem community member after receiving her master’s degree. She served on the board of the city’s YWCA chapter, a national nonprofit that aims to advance racial justice, empower women, and promote peace. Berkemeyer filled the same role for the Red Cross and Weekday Church School. Later on, she took her passion for service to the YWCA of Delaware County board and the Philadelphia YMCA. Her nonprofit and volunteer work also took her to Allentown. Berkemeyer spent several years as the chairwoman of the food service committee for the Luther Crest assisted living community. There, she also visited residents in the personal care units and health center.

 

Gloria Dialectic began her English Ph.D. program at Lehigh in 1963 after being awarded a National Defense Education Act Fellowship. She explored courses in both English and History and received her degree in 1973. After aiming to open a women’s conference center in Arkansas, Dialectic found her way to Tulsa, Oklahoma and began working as a psychotherapy intern at the Tulsa Psychiatric Center. From there, her commitment to practicing feminism and advocacy work led to an extensive career in social work. Dialectic moved on to Helpline, a twenty-four-hour crisis intervention hotline, after it was taken over by the Community Service Council. While there as a casework supervisor, she developed the Resource Guide and the organization’s taxonomy. She utilized that same taxonomy to edit the Blue Book of Social Services in Tulsa twice. Dialetic’s later roles included serving on the board of directors for Tulsa’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental illness, as case manager for the Tulsa day Center for the Homeless, and as executive director for Call Rape. Dialectic also taught classes at Tulsa Community College and received multiple awards, including the Pinnacle Award and Tulsa Community Partner Award. She chose to adopt the last name “Dialectic” to  encompass her dialectical worldview. 

(LAB 1965) (Voices of Oklahoma) 

 

With three graduate degrees from Lehigh, Dr. Gurer has used her passion for teaching to transform and develop science curriculums for schools all across California. She received multiple university awards: Lehigh Vision and Leadership Award, Lehigh Graduate Student Leadership Award, and the Lehigh Physics Award. After college, Dr. Gurer became a computer scientist for SRI International. There, she developed an adaptive reading tutor and an online social network aimed at mentoring girls in science. She went on to a position at 3Com and worked on artificial intelligence. Dr. Gurer later signed on as a senior software engineer at LightCloud Software, where she led research on advanced biometric technologies like thermal face recognition. Her passion for teaching took shape when she co-founded Terravert in 2008, a not-for-profit online service that provides resources for K-5 teachers aiming to incorporate green energy concepts into their science curriculums. Dr. Gurer has taught at multiple schools across California with the ages of her students ranging anywhere from kindergarten to college. She has covered multiple areas of science, including: physics, computer science, chemistry, biology, and earth science. Today, Dr. Gurer is the Director of Curriculum Development at Wyz Owls and a strong advocate for women in computer science. 

Zara Ahmad received her Bachelor’s in Behavioral Neuroscience from Lehigh in 2016 and began her Master’s program in Healthcare Systems Engineering that same year. Throughout the entirety of her two year graduate program, Ahmed served as a graduate assistant in the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity. While there, she mentored and advised more than one hundred first generation students in order to alleviate their stress and increase retention. This work allowed her to hone in on specific concerns of first generation students, which she could then bring to expert attention and ultimately arrange events geared towards the professional and personal growth of students. To increase the effectiveness of Lehigh’s assistance to first generation students, Ahmed restructured the Lehigh University Student Scholars Institute (LUSSI) by introducing both a mentorship program and a capstone project. She also collaborated with University Administration to increase administrative efficiency of LUSSI. Her advocacy work for first generation students at Lehigh was unparalleled. Before she completed her graduate degree in 2018, she helped establish Lehigh’s first first generation student center. It is now known as the Office for Student Access and Success. Since making her incredible mark at Lehigh, Ahmed took a position at PwC in New York, NY, as a management consultant in 2018. Her areas include Health Industries Advisory and Pharmaceutical & Life Science Operations.