She quickly charted an alternative career path—as a computer scientist in what was then a fledgling field, earning advanced degrees and a place in GW’s academic leadership along the way.
Now GW’s associate dean for academic affairs at the Mount Vernon Campus and professor of engineering and applied science, Dr. Heller looks back on her career as a woman in engineering and her nearly quarter century at the University.
Q: How long have you been at GW? What was your first position here?
A: I came to GW in 1985 as a lecturer in computer science in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department.
Q: What first drew you to computer science?
A: This is a long, but telling, story. I was a chemistry major as an undergraduate, and I worked in my university’s computer center. Like many young women of my time, I got married right after graduation. We moved to Washington, D.C., so that my husband could pursue a Ph.D. at Georgetown, and, of course, I had to go to work. I searched for a job in chemistry and applied to the FBI. After my tour with the personnel department, I was asked where I thought I might like to work. When I said the forensics lab, they responded, "We don't hire women as chemists, we hire women as secretaries.”
I went home and cried but still had to find a job. I applied with a head-hunter agency. They asked what besides chemistry I could do, and I said I knew about computers. The agency found a job for me that afternoon with the Planning Research Corporation as a computer programmer. Once I was working in the field, I returned to school for a master’s degree and then a Ph.D.
Q: How has the field of computer science changed, and how has it changed for women in the field?
A: The field is always changing and, in that way, it is not changing at all. The biggest impact is that when I began, computers were sort of a hallowed resource. Everything we did was to maximize the ability of the computer. Now the valued resource is, rightly so, the people who work in the field. Hence, a lot of development effort is aimed at using the computer to maximize the impact of people.
Women have always been in computing—in part because it’s a new field without the history of the male dominance. That said, there are not enough women in the field, though at GW we have passed the special 30 percent solution mark—the point at which at least 30 percent of the population is women and the field begins to change.
Q: How did you become involved in GW’s Women’s Leadership Program?
A: I became involved in the Women’s Leadership Program when GW first was considering acquiring the Mount Vernon College and Seminary in the 1990s. At the time, I met with many of the college’s leadership, but I did not stay involved until I was asked to be the associate dean for academic affairs at the Mount Vernon Campus in 2003.
Q: What's a typical day at work like for you?
A: There is no typical day, and that is what makes this the best job at the University. For example, so far today I met with the manager of our instructional support to plan for upcoming events; with a faculty member from the Forensics Department, which just moved to the campus about purchases for the lab and plans for class sessions; and with two students. I also invited new department chairs to a brown bag discussion and talked with the research office about the budget for my new National Science Foundation grant—and that was just this morning!
Q: Where is your favorite spot on campus?
A: That's hard to say. I love the tree at the corner of the Academic Building nearest Gelman Library—it is magnificent in spring when it flowers and in fall when the leaves change. But I also love the sweaty gym.
Q: What is your worst fashion mistake?
A: Actually, I would not call it a mistake, but I have more than once gone off to work with two different shoes!
For more information on the GW's Women's Leadership Program, visit www.wlp.gwu.edu.