By: Samantha Riley, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2021, French and Anthropology, IUPUI
Dr. Anne Donchin, Scholar of Bioethics
The balance between scholarship and motherhood is a topic rarely celebrated by the academy. Dr. Anne Donchin not only achieved the balance, but also excelled, leaving her mark on the IUPUI campus. While raising four children, Dr. Anne Donchin earned her doctorate from the University of Texas in 1970.
She taught in Texas and New York before coming to IUPUI’s philosophy department in 1992.[1] A year later, she became the coordinator for the Women’s Studies program.[2]
In her work, Dr. Donchin combined her two passions: work and feminism. She worked tirelessly to promote the success of working women, and shed light on their accomplishments, while also supporting women’s equality. In 1992, she founded the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, where she served in various leadership positions for years.
The nonprofit organization was founded to create a network for feminists in the field, as well as to attempt to provide them with programs and projects. In 1999, Donchin co-edited a book with Linda Purdy, Embodying Bioethics: Recent Feminist Advances. She was a part of editorial boards for an encyclopedia, international bioethics collections, and for several prestigious journals.[3]
Anne Donchin retired from IUPUI in 2001, and went to Mt. Sinai School of Medicine to serve as an affiliated research scholar at the program in bioethics education.[4] She passed away in August 2014.
Dr. Nancy Roeske, Public Servant
Female physicians saw a rise in opportunities during World War II due to physician shortages. They experienced new opportunities, new careers, and access to elite universities like Harvard and Yale. Their success, however, was overshadowed when men returned from the war and rejoined the profession in large numbers.
This new decline in opportunities for women sparked the feminist movement of the 1960’s and ‘70s. Dr. Roeske accredited her success as a physician to this movement by saying:
“The recrudescence of the women’s movement over the past two decades has given me an opportunity to move beyond the social constraints placed on previous generations of women physicians in medical education and political activism.”[5]
Dr. Nancy Arnold Roeske was the child of two surgeons, and thus she was encouraged to pursue a similar career path in medicine. Her premedical education was completed at Vassar College; her medical education at Cornell University Medical College.[6] Her psychiatry residency took place at Indiana University School of Medicine.
There, she met and married Dr. Roger Roeske. She took a break from her work to raise two children, and then completed her residency in 1964.[7]
After her residency, she became the director of the Riley Child Guidance Clinic at the Indiana University Medical Center and held the title until 1973. She was considered to be an outstanding director by those she worked with. She instituted innovative programs not only for the delivery of medical services, but also in medical education.
In her work, she emphasized the holistic and humanistic approach to patients, bringing both the human and the scientific sides of patient care together to ensure that patients felt truly cared for while under a physician’s care. In 1973, she was appointed director of undergraduate curriculum in the psychiatry department, and later appointed as director of education in 1976.[8]
Roeske’s passion lay in her desire to help others, working especially with children with mental illnesses and with people with disabilities. She worked hard to provide expert mental health services to under-privileged children and families in Indianapolis through collaboration with the Indiana Department of Mental Health. She introduced a family-orientated approach to children’s mental health problems, which has since been adopted by most local children’s mental health facilities.
She was a consultant for the School for the Blind for 22 years, and in 1977, she organized an institute titled Children with Learning Disabilities.[9] Her work had a tremendous effect on the children and the families for whom she worked to help.
Nancy Roeske had a long-term interest in the role of women in medicine during her career. From 1972 – 1975, she was the chairperson of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Women. Her work with the task force resulted in the publication of several important works.
She performed a number of clinical trials dealing with women and women’s health.[10] She received the American Association of University Women Achievement Award for her work in 1979.[11]
The last few years of her life, Dr. Roeske battled cancer. Despite surgery and chemotherapy, she passed away in 1978. Her legacy lives on through those she cared for, and through the changes she enacted in the Indianapolis community.
Dr. Diane Brashear, Woman’s Advocate
A legacy can be left in many ways. Dr. Diane Brashear left her mark on the Indianapolis area through her passion for her work and connection to the women of the area. Dr. Brashear earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio State University in 1955 and 1957 respectively, and her doctorate in family and marital counseling from Purdue University in 1971[12].
She taught obstetrics, gynecology, and human sexuality at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Dr. Brashear said that besides her private counseling practice, she considered her teaching at IU her number one professional responsibility.[13]
In the late 1980s, the Institute of Women’s Health opened at the IU Medical School with Brashear as the executive director. She described the institute as the only one of its kind in the country.[14] At the time of the institute’s opening, women had higher rates of illnesses and more frequent visits to doctors, yet most medical research was conducted on men. The institute’s goal was to explore and prioritize research needs in women’s health.[15]
Dr. Brashear had a long-standing local television career which began in 1970. For about a decade, she had her own segment on Channel 13. In the segment, she would talk about contemporary issues, often dealing with topics of sexuality.
She would then open up to calls from viewers and answer their questions. If callers were still on the line by the end of the segment, Dr. Brashear would continue to take the calls in the Channel 13 control room.[16]
Diane Brashear worked extensively with organizations in the Indianapolis area to promote equality and support women. She was instrumental in developing Men and Women Working Together, a project for the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce which promoted gender equality. She served on boards for Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Mental Health Association of Marion County, Planned Parenthood, and United Way of Central Indiana.[17]
Dr. Brashear was a founding member, and the first chairperson, of the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana Advisory Board. The fund was created to support programs which provide opportunities, knowledge, and hope to women and girls.9 Brashear wanted the fund to be relevant to all women in central Indiana; she hoped that all girls would recognize their own power and use it to make a difference.
Dr. Diane Brashear retired from IUPUI on November 30, 1998. She passed away in October 2002 at age 69 after a battle with breast cancer.[18] Her contributions to the organizations she worked with, on behalf of the women of central Indiana, and her commitments students live on as her legacy.
Jeannette Matthew, From “Pack Rat” to University Archivist
History can pave the way for the future. At IUPUI, the archives connect the school’s present with its past. This connection is due in part to the hard work and the dedication of the university’s first archivist, Jeannette Matthew. Matthew earned her degree in library science from Park College in 1946.
She worked in libraries across the United States, ranging from the Denver Public Library in Colorado, to Columbia University in New York City. While working at the Columbia University, she took a number of courses at the prestigious library school.[19]
In 1956, Jeannette Matthew joined Indiana University in Indianapolis as the librarian of the School of Social Work and the undergraduate library.10 She earned the title of assistant librarian in 1974. A year later, she was promoted to associate librarian, as well as appointed as special collections librarian and archivist. After attending a workshop at Case Western Reserve University, Mrs. Matthew opened the IUPUI archives.[20]
Mrs. Matthew was said to be an archivist both at work, and at home. “It’s called being a pack rat. It takes one to do the job,” Matthew said.[21]
As the university’s first archivist, Matthew was in charge of building the archives from the ground up—which was no easy feat. According to her, in the beginning of the archive “we did not have that first piece of paper.”[22] Prior to the creation of the archive, there had been no formal collection procedures established for campus materials. She and her co-workers began the collection with flyers, newspapers, and administrative files found around campus.
Before too long, everyone wanted to lend a hand in building the school’s collection; retired faculty members began donating their own records.[23] Beyond collecting and preserving the university’s history in the archives, Jeannette Matthew created a series called “The Way it Was,” which featured recorded oral histories from retired faculty members.12
Mrs. Matthew was an active member in a number of organizations. She was an important part of the Special Libraries Association at both the local and the national levels, served on the board of directors of the Indiana Women’s History Archives, and was appointed to the Commission on College and University Archives of the Society of American Archivists.[24]
In addition to these roles, Matthew was a co-founder of the Adult Education Council of Greater Indianapolis, and in 1961 was the first woman to serve as president.
Jeannette Matthew retired from the school in 1987. Upon her retirement, she moved to Arizona. She volunteered one day a week at the Arizona State Museum Library until 1999, when an illness prevented her from continuing. She passed away on August 30, 2000.[25]
“Mrs. Mac,” Law Professor and Librarian
An individual’s impact can be felt on an institution in many ways. Florence R. McMaster, lovingly known as “Mrs. Mac” by many, transformed the IUPUI law library from a small collection of 10,500 volumes to more than 125,000 volumes during her tenure as law librarian.[26]
McMaster earned her BA in philosophy from the University of Toledo in 1937 and her degree in library science from the University of Illinois in 1944.[27] After graduating she joined the Indiana University Indianapolis faculty as the law librarian. At the law school, Ms. McMaster created a one of a kind workshop for new law students, teaching them how to use the legal resources offered by the library.
McMaster’s work in the law library led to her pursuit of a law degree. She earned her law degree from the IU School of Law-Indianapolis, which is now known as the IU McKinney School of Law. She became an assistant professor of law at the university and was promoted to a full professor in 1972.[28]
During her career, she contributed articles and chapters for books on legal research. She was awarded the American Jurisprudence Prize in Comparative Law in 1961 and in 1973 received a plaque for outstanding service from the Indiana Law Review.[29]
McMaster was an important part of many organizations, including the American Association of Law Libraries, American Bar Association, and the Indiana Chapter of the Special Libraries Association. Within these organizations, she served in positions ranging from chair to director. On campus, she was a chair of the IUPUI Council of Librarians.[30]
In addition, Ms. McMaster had an interest in women and gender inequality, both on and off campus. Her involvement with the Indiana Women Lawyer’s Association, the Women’s Political Caucus, and the Altrusa women’s organization were examples of how she pursued her passion.
In 1968, she became a founding member of the University Women’s Club.[31] As to be expected at this time in history, the academic field was male dominated. The University Women’s Club created a network for university female faculty and staff. The club’s members were offered opportunities to listen to speakers, go on trips, and attend parties together. Additionally, in the ‘70s, she worked with Frances Rhome on IUPUI’s Commission on Women.
The committee studied problems dealing with problems associated with women on campus, as well as investigated charges of sexual discrimination.[32] Florence McMaster passed away from an illness on July 16, 1973 in Malibu, California.
To learn more about the women of IUPUI, visit https://blogs.iu.edu/bicentennialblogs/2018/09/18/the-women-who-broadened-iupui/
Notes
[1] “Anne Donchin,” ScholarWorks. https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/handle/1805/7230
[2] “Anne Donchin, Ph.D.,” Office for Women. https://ofw.iupui.edu/Leadership/Online-Archive-Women-Creating-Excellence-at-IUPUI/Women-Creating-Excellence/AnneDonchin
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] “Site 4: Riley Hospital for Children (RI),” Women Building IU: A Walking Trail. http://www.iupui.edu/~history/OLDSITE/trail/4.htm.
[6] Roeske, Nancy Arnold. Resume IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana.
[7] “Site 4: Riley Hospital for Children (RI),” Women Building IU: A Walking Trail. http://www.iupui.edu/~history/OLDSITE/trail/4.htm.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Register, Indiana University: Academic, Administrative, and Professional Appointees, 1990-1991 volume.
[13] Aamidor, Abe. “Intimacy INC.” The Indianapolis Star, Mar. 20, 1994.
[14] “Institute of Women’s Health Opens At IU Medical School.” New Albany Tribune, Nov. 25, 1987.
[15] “New I.U. health institute will study women.” The Indianapolis News, Nov. 5, 1987, Diane Brashear clippings file, IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana.
[16] Aamidor, Abe. “Intimacy INC.” The Indianapolis Star, Mar. 20, 1994.
[17] “Brashear recalled as women’s advocate.” The Indianapolis Star, Oct. 16, 2002.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Jeannette Matthew memorial resolution, passed August 30, 2000, UA-45, IUPUI Faculty Council Records, IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Harris, Betsy. “’Pack Rat’ Loves Her Job As IUPUI’s First Archivist.” The Indianapolis Star, October 21,1979.
[22] Ibid.
[23] “Site 11: University Library (UL).” Women Building IUPUI: A Walking Trail. http://www.iupui.edu/~history/OLDSITE/trail/11.htm.
[24] “Jeannette Matthew.” Office for Women. https://ofw.iupui.edu/Leadership/Online-Archive-Women-Creating-Excellence-at-IUPUI/Women-Creating-Excellence/JeannetteMatthew.
[25] Jeannette Matthew memorial resolution, passed August 30, 2000, UA-45, IUPUI Faculty Council Records, IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives.
[26] “Florence McMaster, J.D,” Office for Women, https://ofw.iupui.edu/Leadership/Online-Archive-Women-Creating-Excellence-at-IUPUI/Women-Creating-Excellence/FlorenceMcMaster.
[27] News Bureau, July 21, 1965, Florence McMaster clippings file, IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana.
[28] “Florence McMaster, J.D,” Office for Women, https://ofw.iupui.edu/Leadership/Online-Archive-Women-Creating-Excellence-at-IUPUI/Women-Creating-Excellence/FlorenceMcMaster.
[29] Florence R. McMaster IUPUI Faculty Council Memorial Resolution, 1973, UA-060, IUPUI Faculty Council records, Box 12, IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana.
[30] Ibid.
[31] “Florence McMaster, J.D,” Office for Women, https://ofw.iupui.edu/Leadership/Online-Archive-Women-Creating-Excellence-at-IUPUI/Women-Creating-Excellence/FlorenceMcMaster.
[32] “Women Building IUPUI A Walking Trail,” IUPUI, http://www.iupui.edu/~history/OLDSITE/trail/assets/Women%20at%20IUPUI%20Brochure.pdf