Gail Mahood : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In this oral history, Gail Mahood, Professor Emerita of Geological Sciences, reflects on her faculty career at Stanford, her research in igneous petrology, and her administrative roles at the university. She speaks about growing up in Marin County and her experiences as a first-generation college student and a graduate student at University of California, Berkeley. She describes how both the study of geology, and the Geology Department at Stanford has evolved throughout her tenure, and she reflects on gender and diversity in academia, recalling sexism she experienced and witnessed during her career as well as efforts to improve conditions for women in the sciences and increase diversity.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Extent | 1 text file |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | June 11, 2019 - 2019-06-12 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Mahood, Gail A., 1957- | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Mahood, Gail A., 1957- | |
| Interviewer | Marine-Street, Natalie J. | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Mahood, Gail A., 1957- |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences |
| Subject | Petrology |
| Subject | Igneous rocks |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Gail Mahood is a Professor Emerita, having retired in 2019 from the Department of Geological Sciences after forty years of service as a faculty member and administrator. Her research interests have focused on field-based petrologic studies of silicic magmatism based on the records contained in the rhyolitic caldera complexes that are the sources of "super eruptions" that spread ash continent-wide, and in the deep-level plumbing systems for these volcanoes preserved in granite plutons. In the last decade her group mapped rhyolite calderas in Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho that were caused by intrusion of flood basalt about 16 million years ago and are the initiation point for the Snake River Plain-Yellowstone “hot spot” track. A practical application of this work was the development of a new model for the formation of lithium deposits in calderas. In addition to her teaching and research, Professor Mahood has extensive university governance and administrative experience, including serving as Department Chair, Chair of the Stanford Faculty Senate, and Associate Vice Provost of Graduate Education. She was elected to and chaired the Advisory Board, a 7-member faculty group that evaluates all appointments and promotions throughout Stanford University. Mahood also served on then-Provost Condoleezza Rice’s budget and strategic planning group. |
|---|---|
| Summary Part 1 | [00:00:00 – 00:30:30] Family’s New Zealand heritage and California Gold Rush roots • Early childhood; growing up in Marin County • Early education; first exposures to science • Formative experience of being a foster family • Early interests in archaeology • Parents’ expectations • Freshman year at Berkeley during anti-Vietnam War protests • Break in attendance when financial aid ended; work experience; junior college • First geology classes taken at College of Marin; returning to UC Berkeley as a geology major [00:30:30 – 00:56:39] Undergraduate work experience in geology • Mentors at Berkeley: Charles Gilbert, Ian Carmichael • Decision to attend graduate school, NSF fellowship • Experience of female grad students in geology • Field research in Guadalajara on rhyolite lava domes • Experience of first female cohort in the Berkeley field camp and as a woman in a male-dominated field of study [00:56:39 – 01:26:38] The art of field mapping; lessons from Charles Gilbert; maps as stories • Tools used in mapping before and after GPS • Laboratory analysis of rocks • Dissertation on the assembly and evolution of rhyolithic magma chambers • Research at the Mayan archaeological site in Copan, Honduras • Memories of Ian Carmichael • Joining the Stanford faculty [01:26:38 – 01:39:17] Early interactions with departmental colleagues• Reputation of the Department of Geology |
| Summary Part 2 | [00:00:00 – 00:31:34] Early days at Stanford; women in the Geology Department • Experience as a junior faculty member; teaching undergraduates • Teaching in the field • Graduate students; increasing interest in the study of volcanic systems and magma chambers • Proximity to and influence of USGS • Friends of Igneous Petrology (“FIP”) • Employment prospects for graduate students in petrology • Style of advising graduate students • Changes in fields of igneous petrology and volcanology • Qualifications sought in prospective graduate students • Funding of graduate students [00:31:34 – 01:09:23] Role in the beginning of Stanford’s interdisciplinary archaeology program; geoarcheology • Role in the beginning of the interdisciplinary Earth System Science Department • Significant events in the Geology Department: Loma Prieta, important equipment acquisitions • Stanford’s focus on basic science • Departmental mergers, department naming • Geological biology; Jon Payne, Kevin Boyce, Erik Sperling • Death of Alan Cox; subsequent appointments of George Thompson, Gary Ernst • Effects of the Earth System Science Department on the Department of Geology • Dean Pam Matson [01:09:37 – 01:41:04] Igneous petrology v. vulcanology • Research on magma chambers that give rise to rhyolitic eruption • Favorite rocks • Research interests to pursue in retirement: Columbia River basalts; better understanding lithium deposit formation • Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE); Gerhard Casper • Committee on Academic Achievement and Appraisal (CAAA); battle to bring back the “C” • Student response to Policy and Planning Board decision [01:41:04 – 01:58:54] Role as Associate Vice President for Graduate Education; Associate Dean for Graduate Policy • Addressing lack of diversity in graduate programs; involvement of Faculty Senate • Role as driving force behind Stanford’s childbirth accommodation policy • Interest in dogs, Corgis; agility training and competition |
| Audio/Video |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/vw236tz0480 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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