Equivalence: Elizabeth L. Scott at Berkeley is the compelling story of one pioneering statistician’s relentless twenty-year effort to promote the status of women in academe and science. Part biography and part microhistory, the book provides the context and background to understand Scott’s masterfulness at using statistics to help solve societal problems. In addition to being one of the first researchers to work at the interface of astronomy and statistics and an early practitioner of statistics using high-speed computers, Scott worked on an impressively broad range of questions in science, from whether cloud seeding actually works to whether ozone depletion causes skin cancer. Later in her career, Scott became swept up in the academic women’s movement. She used her well-developed scientific research skills together with the advocacy skills she had honed, in such activities as raising funds for Martin Luther King Jr. and keeping Free Speech Movement students out of jail, toward policy making that would improve the condition of the academic workforce for women. The book invites the reader into Scott’s universe, a window of inspiration made possible by the fact that she saved and dated every piece of paper that came across her desk.
The Betty Book
Caught in the Thick of It (1968)
Work as Usual
UC and the Urban Crisis
Berkeley Women and the Urban Crisis
Berkeley Women Begin to Organize
A Complicated Set of Problems
Thick Politics and Early Exhaustion
Shaping the Life
Boots and Saddles (Before 1932)
Grandfather
Uncle and Father
Childhood
Influences
Aunt Phoebe's Telescope (1882-1967)
Astronomy Education
Computer Work
Astronomy Doctoral Studies
Lick Observatory Work
Life Career Balance
Becoming an Outlier (1932-1939)
Move to California
University High School Advantage
Math Advantage
Science Advantage
High School to College
Tunnel Road House
Neyman Serendipity
Klumpke Prize and Graduation
Ten Thousand Hours of Practice (1939-1946)
Year One-Getting up the Mountain
Year Two-Summer at Mount Wilson
Year Three-Beginning War Work
Year Fou-Lick Fellowship
Year Five-University Fellowship
Year Six-Qualifying Exam
Year Seven-Ending War Work
Year Eight-Teaching and Research
A Symmetric Intellectual Relationship
A Rising Star (1947-1954)
Prospects at Vassar
Competing Offers
The UC-Berkeley Decision
Lecturer in Mathematics
Remarkable Research
Instructor in Mathematics
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Trumpler's Book
A Retrospective: Similarities and Differences
A Retrospective: Influence
Clusters of Impact
Championing Science (1939-1988)
Themes and Controversies
Modern Statisticians, Old Equipment
Statistical Astronomy
General Statistical Methods
Bioscience and Health
Symposia, Panels, and Talks
Managing Neyman
The Case of Cloud Seeding (1950-1985)
Confusion
Conflicts
Radio Broadcast
Testimony
Association Leadership
8.6 Relevance Today
Almost Alone in Statistics (1955-1988)
New Statistics Department (1955)
Teaching
Administrator and Professor
Colleague Juliet Popper Shaffer
Status and Resilience
Students and Memories (1948-1988)
Remembrances
On Mentoring
On Generosity
On Personality and Professionalism
On Concentration
On Political Acumen
On Approach to Science
On the Other Side
On Gender
Summing It Up
Letters to Jerry (1954-1955)
October 1954: Paris
January 1955: Paris
February 1955: Paris
April 1955: Paris
May 1955: Paris
Thursday, May 5, 1955: Paris
Sunday, May 8, 1955: Dieppe, Newhaven, Winchester
Thursday, May 12, 1955: Oxford
Thursday night, May 12, 1955: London
Tuesday, May 17, 1955: Cambridge
Wednesday, May 18, 1955: Paris
Thursday morning, May 19, 1955: Paris (continuation of the previous letter)
n.d: Paris
Back in Paris
Monday midnight [most likely May 23, 1955]: Paris
Tuesday [May 24, 1955]: Paris
May 26, 1955, 7:20 am: Paris
Le 26 mai, 17 hr: Paris
29 Mai 1955: Paris
June 1st: Paris [1955]
Saturday, June 4: Lisbon
Soul Mates
Civil Rights Advocacy (1950-1953, 1963-1968)
Loyalty Oath
IMS and Racial Segregation
Civil Rights Solicitations
Saving Aquatic Park
Free Speech Movement
A Changed Environment
The Status of Academic Women at Berkeley
A Disgraceful Situation
(January-September 1969)
Two Faculty Clubs
Senate Subcommittee
Data Collection
Making Visible (October-December 1969)
Research
Debriefing
More Research
Nearing End of Data Collection
Not a Good Time (January-April 1970)
One Club
Counseling and Interpreting
Problems in Zoology and Chemistry
Follow-Up
Problems in Mathematics
Information Exchange
Grounded in Hard Fact (May-June 1970)
Completion
Recommendations
Appendices
How to Proceed
Perspective
Getting on the Agenda
A Tiny Beginning (June-July 1970)
Copies Sent
Advocacy Letters
First Mention of Big Telescopes
Persistence of Repeated Themes
(August-December 1970)
Hard Facts About Big Telescopes
Concerns
Not Ready to Vote
Year End Follow-Ups
We Intend to Do (January-March 1971)
State and System Actions
Club and Center Proposals
De Facto Discrimination
Budget Committee Attention
Complexities
Progress Report
A Little Fire (April-May 1971)
Finally on the Agenda
Renovations
Advisory Committees
Class Action Complaint
Awakened by Stories and Statistics
Affirmative Action
Not Easily Erased Overnight (June-July 1971)
Prizes for Women
Club Operations
Doing More
Issues and Recommendations
Confidentiality
No Women at the Top
A Lot of Power (August-December 1971)
New Advisory Committees
Ideas for AAAS
Policies and Practices
LAW Mobilizes a Congressman
Chancellor's CSAW Established
Impasse
Senate Resolution and Review
Follow-Ups
Still Negotiating
Weak, Grudging, Incomplete (January-February 1972)
CCHE Assignment
Angela Davis and UCLA
Committee Concerns
Agreement Over Personnel Files
Louder Voices
A New Chapter
Time for Action (March-June 1972)
Loss and Delay
Progress
Affidavit, Dissent, Conferences, AAAS
New Recommendations
CCHE Deadlines, Topics, Connections
Salary Equity Studies
Facts of the Matter (July-December 1972)
"Facts of the Matter"
Club Accepts Women
Women in Science
Consult Now
Focusing on Salary Data (January-July 1973)
More Information Sharing
More AAAS Activity
Club Relationships
Time for Affirmative Action
Lack of Quorum
Report Published
`Lib' Flavor
Society's Problem (August-December 1973)
Vision for a Faculty Center
Fong Hearing
Papers
Women Generally Receive Less (January-April 1974)
Including Salary Inequity
Invited Speakerships
AAUP Joint Committee Venture
Criticizing \Underutilization" Methods
Communicating Methods; Explosive Results
Responding to \Blasts" and Supporting Individuals
Conciliation Agreement
Time to Improve Pay Reporting
Big Telescopes Story Challenged
AAUP Kit
Persuasive Analysis (April-December 1974)
CCHE Study
Top 100 Salaries
Scrutiny
Campus Attitudes toward Affirmative Action
Expertise Needed by AAUP
Committee of Statisticians
Nominated
High Stakes (1975)
Club Relationship Pains
UC Progress and Problems
Berkeley Pilot Study
Initial Kit Progress
Federal Testimony
Pilot Studies Progress
Not Nearly Enough
Developing the Kit (1976)
More UC Affirmative Action
Club Merger Declined
More Reports, Advocacy, Testimony
Statistics Department Self-Evaluation
Mills College
Fighting to Hold Gains
First Draft of Part I
Rank as a Predictor
Next Drafts
Completing the Kit (1977)
Praise and Potential for the Kit
Old Master
More Salary Work and Kit Dissemination
Faculty Club Questionnaire
Influencing Salaries (1978)
Persisting Inequities
Conferences and Colloquia
Astronomy, Statistics, Engineering
Ferber Collaboration
Irritations
Kit Promotion and Experience
Affirmative Action Comments
Conclusion
Final Decade of Leadership (1979-1988)
More Women's Studies Publications
More Honors
Neyman's Stroke
Censorship
Revelations
Betty's Fatal Stroke
Bibliography
Biography
Amanda L. Golbeck is professor of biostatistics and associate dean for academic affairs in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has had a long-term interest in gender equity issues in academe that stems from her early association with Scott. Golbeck was the lead editor of Leadership and Women in Statistics (Chapman & Hall/CRC Press) and has had a number of published articles on gender issues in the statistics profession. In 2016, the Committee on Presidents of Statistical Societies selected Golbeck to receive the COPSS Elizabeth L. Scott Award.
"This book is an amazing tour de force." ~ Juliet Shaffer, University of California-Berkeley
"What an intriguing life Scott led!" ~ Deborah Bennett, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Ret.
"The details of what was done when in response to situations are revealing and instructive. We should all have access to her story." ~ Brian Yandell, University of Wisconsin
"The way in which Scott was able to continue her research while simultaneously serving the University system through her gender discrimination work is exemplary and should be inspirational to the academic women of today. Women are still recognised as being under-represented at higher levels of academia, particularly in science, even though it is now 50 years after Scott commenced her investigations! Men and women who are interested in the history of statistics and in the history of gender equity in universities will want to own this book. There is inspiration to be gained and lessons to be learnt by those who still face gender inequity in academia today." ~ Alice Richardson, ANU College of Medicine, Canberra
"Equivalence tells the captivating story of statistician Elizabeth L. Scott, who was a trail blazer for all women in academia, and especially in statistics . . . During her entire time in the Statistics Department, she overlapped with only four other women . . . It is a story of the love, passion, and commitment exhibited by Betty throughout her personal and professional life. It also illustrates the love, passion, and commitment of the author (statistician Amanda Golbeck) for telling Betty’s story. . . Reading Equivalence was an eye-opening experience for me. Having received my PhD in Statistics in 1978, the book helped me place my academic career in a larger context. It felt somewhat like I had boarded a train part way through a treacherous journey, and only slowly came to realize the hardships the passengers had faced before reaching my embarkation point. It brought back memories of some of my early experiences . . ." ~ Jessica Utts, American Statistician
