INAUGURATION Greeting on behalf of the community of scientists

C. Megan Urry, Israel Munson Professor of Physics
Director, Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics

As a physicist and as Kim Bottomly's friend, I am deeply honored to speak here on behalf of the community of scientists — though my remarks will be less formal and more personal than that task may imply.

When I arrived at Yale, I was the only woman on the Physics Department faculty, and the first tenured woman in that department — ever, in Yale's 300-year history. This situation is changing rapidly — we now have three more women faculty in the Physics Department — and I am delighted to be the last “first” in this sense.

Kim is one of this rare breed of “senior woman scientist.” I met her through an organization at Yale called the Women Faculty Forum, which as the name implies, is a group of women faculty from across the university. The WFF is enormously valuable for informal networking and mentorship of the kind that we too often ignore. Let me illustrate this with an anecdote from when I first knew Kim. I tell this story particularly to remind the young Wellesley women who are about to become the next generation of leaders how forming alliances with other women can be invaluable.

One day, not long after my arrival at Yale, my department Chair (my predecessor) asked me to do something that I really did not want to do — but I was at a loss as to how to respond. I thought, “Who can I ask about this?” I couldn't ask someone in the department. Thanks to the Women Faculty Forum, I thought of Kim. I thought, She is very savvy, she will know just what to do, so I emailed her a long message explaining the situation in great detail, and then went back to worrying. Kim quickly shot back an email advising, “Just say no.” Oh. I hadn't realized I could say that! (You don't know how happy I was to get that advice.) Having a senior woman to turn to made all the difference.

Kim was a wonderful colleague always. There are far too few women in science, and fewer still whom one can look to as a role model (an overused term, perhaps, but a vitally important thing all the same). Kim is a role model for me and for many other young women. How splendid for Wellesley women to have Kim as their leader!

A few years ago, Kim and I wrote a proposal for an NSF Advance grant — she was the Principal Investigator — to transform Yale with respect to women in science. We focused on women of color and devised what we thought was a great plan — although, to our dismay, it was not funded. Well, Kim didn't let that stop her — she simply said, Let's do this anyway. That is what she is like — calm, unflappable, determined, a doer. She asks, “What needs to be done,” and then she does it.

At Yale, as Deputy Provost for Science, Technology and Faculty Development — the last part of that title created by and for her — Kim decided to improve the demographics at Yale. Because of her, Yale committed to the goal of hiring 35 women in science and under-represented minority faculty across the campus. This really will transform Yale, and will help change the face of science more globally.

Kim is a leader, a doer, and a wonderful person whom we at Yale were very sorry to lose and all of you at Wellesley are incredibly lucky to gain, as you no doubt already know. I offer my congratulations and best wishes to all of you.

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