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SOHP Home > News"University History" Interview Reconnects Pair (2003)SOHP Research Assistant Laura Micheletti Puaca Describes Chance EncounterIn December 2002, I interviewed Dr. Shirley Friedlander Weiss, Professor Emerita in the Department of City and Regional Planning, for the Southern Oral History Program’s ongoing “University History” series. In a career spanning five decades at the University, Dr. Weiss distinguished herself as a highly regarded scholar, teacher, mentor, and friend. She came to Carolina in 1956 when her husband accepted an appointment in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. Hoping to work for the University in some capacity but learning that jobs were available only to students and faculty, she promptly enrolled in graduate courses. Upon earning her master’s in Regional Planning in 1958, she joined the Department of City and Regional Planning as its first female faculty member. In 1973, while maintaining a full teaching load, she earned a Ph.D. in economics from Duke, whereupon UNC recognized her as a full professor. In the years since, Dr. Weiss served as associate research director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies, acting director of the Women’s Studies curriculum, and president of the University and state chapters of the American Association of University Professors. Although it was Dr. Weiss’s impressive professional contributions to the University that brought her to the SOHP’s attention, as it turns out – in a delightful coincidence – I had first taken notice of her while researching my undergraduate honors thesis at Douglass College at Rutgers University, the same college that Dr. Weiss had attended nearly sixty years earlier. My study of Douglass College during World War II relied heavily on student yearbooks, one of which was co-edited by a Shirley Friedlander. I also discovered that Friedlander, in addition to co-editing the yearbook, had been elected during her junior year to Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the French Club and countless other student organizations. “Wow,” I remember thinking, “this woman did everything!” I cited the name repeatedly in my footnotes and remembered it long after. Several years ago, while I was working part-time for the Graduate School, my supervisor suggested that I meet a sister alumna of Douglass College who was well known to the Graduate School as an avid supporter of graduate education. A short time later I was introduced to Dr. Weiss. Of course, I didn’t know that Dr. Weiss was the former Shirley Friedlander, Douglass College yearbook co-editor and undergraduate extraordinaire. I made this discovery only when she mentioned several awards that she had received from the College. Immediately, I pictured her in the yearbook photos I recalled so well from my thesis research. The amazing young woman I had cited so often was now sitting across the table! This past December, when I sat down with Dr. Weiss to conduct a lengthy oral history interview, I brought along her yearbook – which I liked to consider “our” yearbook, the same one where we first “met.” Engaging and thoughtful, Dr. Weiss reminisced with me about her childhood, her marriage, her extensive world travel, and her work at the University. Later, as I reflected on our conversation and pondered my own future in higher education, I hoped that things would turn out for me as well as they have for Dr. Weiss. And maybe if I’m lucky, some half-century hence I’ll have the chance to share my stories with a young graduate student, too. |
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 The Southern Oral History Program Center for the Study of the American South Love House and Hutchins Forum 410 East Franklin St., CB# 9127, UNC-CH Chapel Hill, NC 27599-9127 (919) 962-0455 info@sohp.org | |||||||||
