Thursday, October 29, 2009
Laura Poppo has worked most of her life to attain the title of professor.
Contributed photo
Her years of work paid off when she was named the first female full professor in the University’s School of Business since the early 1990s. She is now the only female business professor at the University.
In the School of Business, it takes at least five years to become an assistant professor, six more to move on to associate professor and another six or more to become a full professor. Poppo said because business was still somewhat of a male-dominated profession, women were expected to put parts of their life on hold to make it to a higher ranking than men.
“Business is still a relatively new profession beginning in the late 80s,” said Poppo, who earned the title of professor last month. “It has been historically dominated by men. A woman’s reproductive cycle and the tenure of a professor don’t always work well together.”
Despite the lack of encouragement for women in the professional world, Poppo said that the University was very “human,” and that since she came here in 2007, she could see they cared about her as a person.
“While I was working at the first job, a senior faculty member said to me, ‘This is not a good time for you to get married or have kids,’” Poppo said. “But many of my male colleagues my age were married and had kids.”
Many people, including Poppo, said it seemed strange that she was only the second female full professor of business in the history of the University.
“I’m so proud,” Poppo said. “I’ve worked really hard to accumulate the research and background to get this far.”
Other universities in the area, however, have the University beat in the number of female professors.
Melanie Horton, administrative assistant to the dean at Kansas State University, said the School of Business had two female professors and the University of Missouri had three.
Before Poppo, Marilyn Taylor was the last female business full professor at the University.
Toni Dixon, director of communications in the School of Business, said Taylor hadn’t taught since the late 1980s or early 1990s.
“I’m very excited about it,” Dixon said. “I have the same questions as to why it’s taken so long, but I’m looking forward to a woman moving to the top echelon of the school.”
Stacy Kovar, accounting professor at Kansas State since 1997, has been a full professor for a year and a half.
“If you look at our profession historically, it has just been in the last 20 years that numbers of women have matched men in Ph.D. programs,” Kovar said. “When I first took an interest in the profession, there were a lot more male than female faculty.”
She said over the years, some schools have done a better job than others at recruiting and promoting women.
“It’s been challenging recruiting women at K-State because of the history involved,” she said. “It takes a long time to get through being unrepresented in the workplace and this is not necessarily the easiest place to attract women to.”
Poppo said the University has proved to her it is possible to balance all these areas of her life and receive support from colleagues while doing so. Consequently, Poppo said the encouragement she’s received from her husband over the years has helped her through the long journey. She has been married for 14 years and has two kids.
Cory Boor, Medicine Lodge senior and business minor, said he had never had a female business professor.
“It’s important for students to be taught from a female perspective as well,” he said. “We’re taught about the contrasting relationship between male and female bosses in the workplace and I think it’s important to get the same thing out of instructors.”
— Edited by Sarah Kelly
Number of female meteorologists on the rise
This semester, more women are taking meteorology classes at the University. This ...
All hail the queen
Female engineers get new support group
Mentor program offers tutoring, advice and support to an extreme minority in ...
Taxidermist gets down and dirty in raw ...
Taxidermist Cindy Cunningham owns her own shop in Bonner Springs and continues ...
Love and lust in college
From one-night stands to long-term relationships, students’ perceptions of the collegiate dating ...
Zimbabwean student is on a mission
Ennie Ndoro came to America to help improve the lives of women ...
Dance professor dies in New York City
Janet Hamburg, respected professor of dance, died on Saturday, sending shockwaves through ...
The As and Bs of raising children ...
Two stories of students who balance a family, work and school
Domestic violence affects people of all sexual ...
LGBTQ individuals just as likely to encounter domestic violence in relationships as ...
Lytton: Women's holiday should be celebrated by ...
Potential of International Women's Day goes unrecognized in the US, where few ...
Alumnae top Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women
Two graduates rank within top 10 in Forbes Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful ...
Accounting majors hired fast
Every single graduate accounting student who filled out an exit survey last ...
Protestor still stands for beliefs
After being expelled from the University of Kansas, Caroljean Brune now works ...
Miyakawa: College teaches lessons in mixing career ...
For women, it can be difficult to balance work and family life.
Anthologist speaks of inspiration for change
The editor of an American literature anthology added voices of minorities and ...
Environmentalist shares her passion with Lawrence
Simran Sethi has a long list of experiences: a host for MTV, ...
Wedding bells: Keeping the faith
Laura Schmidt knew her fiance was the one for her before she ...
Good vibrations
Slumber Parties allow women to view and purchase sex toys in privacy ...
Calligrapher in an electronic world
Cathy Ledeker says there’s no substitute for the human touch in today’s ...
Bisexuals face additional challenges
Students struggle for acceptance in LGBT communities.
Designer student named Best of Show
Class work wins KU artist honor of publication in a national magazine.
Married? Yes. Graduated? No.
Some college students decide to add additional challenges of marriage to their ...
Legalizing Love: the state of same-sex marriage ...
A look at the battle for marriage equality.
Drive-by shouting
Catcalls are commonplace in many women’s daily lives. Is it all in ...
Sow Hope founder to give speech tonight
Mary Daily Brown will talk about the injustices women face in third-world ...
Vice provost of student success to resign
Marlesa Roney, who has been the head of Student Success since 2003, ...
A look at KU's changing face of ...
University's turbulent past has evolved into a somewhat tranquil state of activism.
A student by any other name...
The University releases top undergraduate names.
‘Confrontational Evangelist’
Brother Jed, a self-proclaimed preacher, travels around to college campuses in order ...
Communication studies professor died Saturday
Nobleza Asuncion-Lande, found in her home Saturday, taught at the University for ...
News Brief: May 10, 2007
Professor accepts Dean of Journalism possition at University of Montana.
A question of identity
The Comanche Nation informed KU that a professor who claims he's Comanche ...
Johnson County stigma doesn’t always stick
Students from Johnson County make up 41 percent of the University’s population. ...
Leaving a lasting legacy
As Hemenway prepares to retire, he and others look back at how ...
Phillips: Title IX has gone too far
Coach Henrickson may have to say goodbye to the men she has ...
University women’s GPAs exceed men’s
Alumni play different roles now at University
Former students have returned to the University not just for homecoming, but ...
Political science class taught at home and ...
Twenty students at Mogadishu University in Somalia are enrolled in “Political Science ...
Making the case for a cause
Life inside a health care access clinic with a woman who sees ...
Kemper awards presented to 20 professors
Instructors recognized for teaching and advising excellence with $5,000 W.T. Kemper Fellowships
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
KUnited presidential candidate Libby Johnson and vice presidential ...
1 comment
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID