March is Women’s History Month, and March 8 was International Women’s Day. For the next two weeks The Cordova Times is celebrating the remarkable achievements of some of the incredible women who make up the Cordova community. Women in the Cordova community are educators, leaders, civil servants, scientists, historians, storytellers, culture bearers, and pioneers. We’ve profiled a few of the women who keep our community running and progressing, and you can read their answers to our questions below.
Dr. Mary Anne Bishop
Bishop is a senior research scientist at the Prince William Sound Science Center who arrived in Cordova in April 1990, after she was transferred to the city by the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station to study shorebirds as a research scientist at the (then) Copper River Delta Institute.
What does it mean to you to be a woman in your field/industry?
I think anyone who chooses wildlife research has to work hard to be successful. But as a woman, you often have to work harder as well as prove yourself more often. If you have a family, it can be especially challenging trying to juggle children and field work. In my case, I was extremely lucky to have fantastic caregivers for my daughter that made it possible for me to continue to do field work.
What adversity or challenges have you had to face and overcome as a woman to get to where you are now?
There were few female role models in my field when I started. I was the first woman to get a Ph.D. in the Department of Wildlife and Range Sciences at the University of Florida – and that was in the late 1980s. Throughout the 1990s I was often the only woman in the room. With many wildlife projects, you are not a “one-person” show but instead need collaborators. Thirty years ago it was sometimes challenging to find the right colleagues to work with that were not sexist. These days, men are much more aware and progressive.
What does womanhood mean to you?
I like the definition of womanhood as a “stage in life that comes after childhood, puberty, and adolescence.” That takes years! And hopefully by the time that stage arrives you have acquired wisdom from going through all those other stages.
Who was an influential female mentor you’ve had in your life and how do you hope to mentor the next generation of young women?
My colleague, Dr. Kathy Kuletz, a seabird researcher at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Birds Division has been an inspiration for the past 30 years. I would hope to mentor other women by setting a good example with my work ethic and enthusiasm for what I do, and by encouraging them to pursue their dreams.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self or to young women in the region?
I have two pieces of advice: get a good education and see what you enjoy doing. Those do not have to be accomplished in that order. In wildlife there are so many career possibilities to name a few: teaching, management, research, conservation advocacy, habitat restoration, policy, environmental education and outreach, and even administration. Find what inspires or satisfies you and always keep growing intellectually. Careers do not happen overnight.
Kate Williams
Williams came to Cordova in 1996 after her husband landed a job with the Prince William Sound Science Center. Their three children were born in Cordova before the family moved to Texas from 2004 to 2017. However, they couldn’t get Cordova out of their veins. They would return in the summers to fish, and each summer their boys would ask if they could move back. When the CHS principal position fortuitously opened up in the summer of 2017, Williams applied. Williams took the position after 10 years of Texas public school experience.
What does it mean to you to be a woman in your field/industry?
Teaching is a female-dominated profession, but administrators are overwhelmingly men. This is especially true for high school principals. Being a woman principal at the secondary level means that my colleagues are mostly men, and their approach to handling student discipline or building a positive school culture might be very different from the route I may think is appropriate. That means I’ve got to go it alone sometimes and trust that my knowledge, expertise and instincts are what I should follow.
What adversity or challenges have you had to face and overcome as a woman to get to where you are now?
Women who are direct and to the point are often perceived negatively – as bossy – but a man who is the same way is seen as a strong, effective leader. There’s this pressure in our culture to soften yourself as a woman so that people will take direction better or something. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that being direct is an advantage, not a disadvantage, and I’m glad I didn’t cave to the pressure to change.
What makes Alaskan women so special?
Alaskan women as a whole are fiercely independent and capable. Unflappable, even. I’m proud to be one of them.
What does womanhood mean to you?
Womanhood means fulfilling so many roles and responsibilities – being a lot of things to a lot of people. Women are often the glue that holds families, workplaces, and circles of friends together. Life is about connection – and I believe womanhood has connection at its center.
Who was an influential female mentor you’ve had in your life and how do you hope to mentor the next generation of young women?
The first year I became a teacher, I worked in a huge high school with 1,000 students. My principal would walk down the hall in between classes through an absolute sea of faces and she would call students by their first names, ask them how they ended up doing on a test, comment on how well they played in a game, or find out how an experiment had turned out in their science class. She cared about them and they knew it. There was power in knowing their names and I saw how important that was. I made sure I learned my students’ names quickly every year as a teacher, and I did the same thing, standing at the front door of CHS, when I became principal. I hope that I’ve been successful in showing the students and staff at CHS how much I know them and care about them.
Mentoring the next generation of young women is what I’ve done in my role as principal at the statewide level with the Alaska School Leadership Academy for the past five years. I’m a mentor to a first-year principal every year. They’re in remote, rural areas of Alaska and typically the only administrator at the school. So I check in with them regularly and help them talk through issues they’re facing. It really helps to know that someone else has successfully dealt with whatever it is that you’re struggling with. Being a principal is isolating and stressful – and I had some great mentors my first few years – so mentoring the next generation myself is my way of giving back to one of the most important professions there is.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self or to young women in the region?
Fear is contagious, but so is calm. Be the person who exudes calm.
