As chair of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 Department of Chemistry, Mary D. Barkley guides others to academic success by blending leadership, research and life skills.
The M. Roger Clapp University Professor of Arts and Sciences was recognized for that guidance by being chosen a Distinguished University Professor, a title acknowledging the outstanding contributions of full-time, tenured professors with exceptional academic records of research, scholarship, teaching and service.
鈥淚 was totally surprised,鈥 Barkley said, grinning. 鈥淯sually, those have been long-term members of the university community, and I moved here as a full professor in the 1996-97 academic year. More than half my career was elsewhere.鈥
Barkley will be one of four Distinguished University Professors celebrated during Fall Convocation on Aug. 31 at Severance Hall.
The 74-year-old biophysical chemist views the honor as another chance to serve as a role model, especially for other women or others who have been underrepresented in science research. Making the population of research scientists larger and more diverse is her passion.
鈥淚鈥檓 grateful that more women are being recognized now,鈥 she said. 鈥淓veryone talks about the role model effect. People dedicated to an academic career and research, as I am, do it for the science.鈥
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Cyrus C. Taylor, in his nomination letter to Provost William A. 鈥淏ud鈥 Baeslack III, relied greatly on a recommendation from Professor Kathleen Kash, chair of the Department of Physics. Kash wrote about Barkley鈥檚 research and more. She noted that Barkley organizes the popular 鈥淟ady Chairs鈥 lunch, where female chairs gather to share experiences, successes and failures, and to provide needed information to one another.
鈥淪he is known as the go-to person for advice on the many difficulties that women still face in an academic science career, and she provides wise counsel to other female faculty, graduate students and undergraduates,鈥 Kash wrote.
Participants in a Lady Chairs lunch discuss a wide range of topics, from how to get a task done to dealing with sensitive situations, while remaining aware of confidentiality.
Barkley鈥檚 research focuses on a viral protein of HIV. She鈥檚 also worked on tryptophan fluorescence in proteins. Tryptophan is an amino acid, but it鈥檚 the only one that fluoresces well. It鈥檚 used to monitor changes in protein structure. The proteins of viruses are different from those of the cells that they infect, yet essential for the life of the virus, so viral proteins are good targets for drugs, Barkley said.
Barkley earned her PhD in physical chemistry from the University of California, San Diego. She completed her postdoctoral research at the prestigious Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Since then, she has published more than 60 papers advancing biological chemistry, and has dedicated her career to studying interactions of large proteins. She received the Biophysical Society鈥檚 Distinguished Service Award in 2003.
When she accepted a professorship at 黑料吃瓜网 in 1996, she was one of two women hired as the first female professors in the Department of Chemistry. She was appointed chair of the Department of Chemistry in 2008, and is the first woman to be a tenured professor and hold an endowed chair in the Department of Chemistry.
Barkley cares deeply about increasing the number of women in 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 science, math and engineering programs. She was involved in the 2003 NSF-ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award that funded the university鈥檚 continuing Academic Careers in Engineering and Science (ACES) Program.
Department of Chemistry Chair Mary Barkley awarded Distinguished University Professorship
As chair of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 Department of Chemistry, Mary D. Barkley guides others to academic success by blending leadership, research and life skills.
The M. Roger Clapp University Professor of Arts and Sciences was recognized for that guidance by being chosen a Distinguished University Professor, a title acknowledging the outstanding contributions of full-time, tenured professors with exceptional academic records of research, scholarship, teaching and service.
鈥淚 was totally surprised,鈥 Barkley said, grinning. 鈥淯sually, those have been long-term members of the university community, and I moved here as a full professor in the 1996-97 academic year. More than half my career was elsewhere.鈥
Barkley will be one of four Distinguished University Professors celebrated during Fall Convocation on Aug. 31 at Severance Hall.
The 74-year-old biophysical chemist views the honor as another chance to serve as a role model, especially for other women or others who have been underrepresented in science research. Making the population of research scientists larger and more diverse is her passion.
鈥淚鈥檓 grateful that more women are being recognized now,鈥 she said. 鈥淓veryone talks about the role model effect. People dedicated to an academic career and research, as I am, do it for the science.鈥
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Cyrus C. Taylor, in his nomination letter to Provost William A. 鈥淏ud鈥 Baeslack III, relied greatly on a recommendation from Professor Kathleen Kash, chair of the Department of Physics. Kash wrote about Barkley鈥檚 research and more. She noted that Barkley organizes the popular 鈥淟ady Chairs鈥 lunch, where female chairs gather to share experiences, successes and failures, and to provide needed information to one another.
鈥淪he is known as the go-to person for advice on the many difficulties that women still face in an academic science career, and she provides wise counsel to other female faculty, graduate students and undergraduates,鈥 Kash wrote.
Participants in a Lady Chairs lunch discuss a wide range of topics, from how to get a task done to dealing with sensitive situations, while remaining aware of confidentiality.
Barkley鈥檚 research focuses on a viral protein of HIV. She鈥檚 also worked on tryptophan fluorescence in proteins. Tryptophan is an amino acid, but it鈥檚 the only one that fluoresces well. It鈥檚 used to monitor changes in protein structure. The proteins of viruses are different from those of the cells that they infect, yet essential for the life of the virus, so viral proteins are good targets for drugs, Barkley said.
Barkley earned her PhD in physical chemistry from the University of California, San Diego. She completed her postdoctoral research at the prestigious Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Since then, she has published more than 60 papers advancing biological chemistry, and has dedicated her career to studying interactions of large proteins. She received the Biophysical Society鈥檚 Distinguished Service Award in 2003.
When she accepted a professorship at 黑料吃瓜网 in 1996, she was one of two women hired as the first female professors in the Department of Chemistry. She was appointed chair of the Department of Chemistry in 2008, and is the first woman to be a tenured professor and hold an endowed chair in the Department of Chemistry.
Barkley cares deeply about increasing the number of women in 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 science, math and engineering programs. She was involved in the 2003 NSF-ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award that funded the university鈥檚 continuing Academic Careers in Engineering and Science (ACES) Program.
