[Okgrantsmanship] Dr. Ann Nalley - Born to Learn

[Mason, Linda]

Lawton Constitution
FACES OF SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA
Born to learn
Cameron prof an ambassador of science
BY TYRELL ALBIN, STAFF WRITER TALBIN at LAWTON-CONSTITUTION.COM<mailto:TALBIN at LAWTON-CONSTITUTION.COM>  

Cameron University chemistry professor Elizabeth Ann Nalley knew she wanted to be a scientist when she was just a 5-year-old farm girl in eastern Oklahoma. She started school at age 4 in rural Missouri after learning to read and write from her mother . But when her family moved to Oklahoma, state law prevented her from attending classes again until she turned 6.
“I say I took my first sabbatical at 5 years old,” Nalley joked.

She worked as a caretaker for a neighbor with severe arthritis and continued to read books from the local library. “I read the story of Marie Curie and I would say she is my mentor and role model,” Nalley said. When she turned 6, Nalley went to school at Elm Grove School, a one-room schoolhouse with only 13 pupils. Nalley said she ended up learning math well above her grade level because of the intimate environment where every grade was together. Friday afternoons meant math contests at the chalkboard in the front of the schoolroom.
Soon, she was participating in, and winning, the weekly competitions.

Nalley attended Checotah High School, where she took physics and chemistry. Her chemistry teacher nominated her for a National Science Foundation summer program the summer between her junior and senior years.   Nalley said there were 26 students at the summer camp — 21 boys and five girls. They studied chemical engineering for six weeks at Oklahoma State University.   The experience changed Nalley’s life, she said. It opened up tantalizing possibilities for her future.
“I came back with a slide rule with my name engraved on it and tremendous inspiration to go on and become a scientist,” she said.

Nalley earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical education from Northeastern Oklahoma University and went to work as a science teacher at Muskogee Central High School. She said her experience as a high school teacher wasn’t enjoyable, so she enrolled at OSU to work on a master’s degree in chemistry.    As she neared graduation, Nalley began looking for a job, but times were tough. Nalley was teaching lower-level courses at OSU when one of her colleagues, Clarence Breedlove, decided to help her out. Breedlove was the former dean of Cameron Junior College. He called Don Owen, president of Cameron, and told him about Nalley’s job search. The next day, Nalley said, the head of Cameron’s Physical Sciences Department drove to Stillwater and interviewed her. It turned out he had taken a laboratory course at OSU under Nalley, so they already knew one another. He offered her a professorship and she took it without ever seeing Cameron’s campus.

 Nalley came to Cameron in 1969, while the school was in the process of becoming a four-year college. The president told her if she planned to stay, she needed a doctorate in her field — preferably from an out-of-state university. While she taught at Cameron, Nalley attended Texas Women’s University, where she earned a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1975.


Nalley has earned many accolades during her long tenure as a Cameron professor. She was the first woman to be appointed to The International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies (Pacifichem) in 2000. The leaders of the international chemistry organization told Nalley they were hesitant to appoint her because of her gender. They warned her she would face serious discrimination when dealing with the Japanese scientists, who were a powerhouse in Pacifichem. “I said ‘Well, I’ll make them like working with me,’” Nalley said. Nalley worked hard to establish good relations with the Japanese and scientists from all of the other Pacific basin nations. In 2003, she was invited to be a guest of Japan’s Emperor Akihito as part of her membership in Pacifichem.    She gave the emperor a gift that drew upon her own Cherokee Indian heritage, in the form of a ceramic white buffalo. With the aid of an interpreter, Nalley told the emperor the white buffalo symbolized friendship, peace, understanding, building connections between people and looking forward to a bright future. “He was really moved,” she said. Nalley gave similar ceramic white buffaloes to some of her colleagues in the Japanese Chemical Society.

 Nalley served as president of the American Chemical Society in 2006. She remains the only Oklahoman and the only chemist from a smaller university to have ever served in the prestigious post. She was only the fifth woman to have been elected the president of the ACS. According to the American Chemical Society’s website, “ACS is a congressionally chartered independent membership organization which represents professionals at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry and sciences that involve chemistry.”  Nalley traveled all over the world representing the ACS during her term.

Nalley said she is also very proud to have been named to the Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society’s Hall of Fame in 2010. “In terms of where I am in Oklahoma, that was really meaningful to me,” she said.

Nalley currently holds the Clarence E. Page Endowed Chair in Math and Science Education at CU and is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among her many other accomplishments.

 Outside of work, Nalley and her husband, retired Federal Aviation Administration executive Robert Mullican, live on a ranch outside of Chickasha, where they operate an animal rescue for unwanted pets and livestock. She takes care of cattle, horses, dogs and about 60 cats every day.  Her stepson, George Mullican, is a successful attorney in Tulsa and a Cameron graduate.
Nalley travels constantly to support her work for various scientific organizations and for science symposiums worldwide. Her husband often accompanies her. Nalley, 70, said she plans to continue her work for as long as she is physically and mentally able. However, she does have plans to write a memoir someday soon.

To suggest someone to be featured in Faces of Southwest Oklahoma, send email to faces at lawton-constitution.com  .



Linda Mason, Ed.D.
Coordinator of Grant Writing
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
655 Research Parkway, Suite 200
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
405-225-9486 desk
405-706-8757 cell
405-225-9230 FAX
lmason at osrhe.edu
www.okhighered.org/grant-opps/

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