Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- Jewel Plummer Cobb (1924- ), a distinguished African American biologist and academic administrator, is widely credited for her contributions to the scientific community, both through her cancer research and her commitment to equal access to educational and professional opportunities for women and minorities.
- Extent:
- 16.25 Linear Feet
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
Folder title, Series, Box number, Collection tile, followed by Special Collections and Archives, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Our collection contains a wide variety of publications, pamphlets, newsletters, research reports, program proposals, newspaper and magazine clippings, conference materials and a series of academic articles. The collection includes Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb's personal notes and speech transcripts.
Series I: Publications Inclusive Dates: 1964-1995 Arrangement: Alphabetical order
This series consists of a variety of published research reports, academic journal articles, informational brochures and pamphlets, newsletters, book reviews, magazines and journals.
Series II: Writings and Research Inclusive Dates: 1969-1995 Arrangement: Alphabetical order
This series consists of research papers, conference papers, program proposals, and documents for minority support programs in the sciences and Dean Cobb's personal notes and speech materials.
Series III: Conferences, Meetings, Seminars and Workshop Inclusive Dates: 1972-1991 Arrangement: Alphabetical order
This series consists of a series of conference pamphlets and materials and meeting, seminar and workshop notes.
Series IV: Topical Files Inclusive Dates: 1971-1991 Arrangement: Alphabetical order
This series consists of a series of bibliographies, correspondence, directories, rosters, surveys, syllabi, press releases and other miscellaneous documents related to minorities and women in the sciences.
Series V: Clippings Inclusive Dates: 1961-1991 Arrangement: By date
This series consists of newspaper, magazine and academic article clippings.
Series VI: Legislation Related Documents Inclusive Dates: 1971-1983 Arrangement: Alphabetical order
This series consists of a variety of documents on Affirmative Action, Title IX, Title X and summaries, reports and correspondence reporting on legislation and executive orders.
Series VII: Biographical Inclusive Dates: u.d. Arrangement: Alphabetical order
This series consists of Jewel Plummer Cobb's Curriculum Vitaes and a set of interview questions.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Jewel Plummer Cobb (1924- ), a distinguished African American biologist and academic administrator, is widely credited for her contributions to the scientific community, both through her cancer research and her commitment to equal access to educational and professional opportunities for women and minorities.
The daughter of a physician and school teacher, Cobb developed interested in a science career as a high school student. She began her undergraduate career at University of Michigan but transferred to a historically black college after encountering a campus climate plagued by racial discrimination. After earning a PhD in Cell Physiology from NYU in 1950, she became a fellow at the National Cancer Institute. After directing the Tissue Culture Laboratory at the University of Illinois, in 1967 she was appointed Dean and Professor of Zoology at Connecticut College. There she instituted and funded recruitment and retention programs for women and under-represented minorities who sought to enter traditionally white male-dominated fields. When she left Connecticut College in 1975 to become Dean at Douglass College, the women's division within Rutgers University, she continued her work to improve the access of women and minorities to science and mathematics fields. She worked to attract more women to the sciences with new programs. Her 1979, publication "Filters for Women in Science," is included in this collection. In this article, she exposed how educational systems and other "filters" discouraged women from careers in science and math, ultimately affecting their university tenure and equal pay.
In 1981, she was appointed president of California State University, Fullerton, becoming the first black president of a major public university in the western United States. During her tenure, the university grew in enrollment, prestige and recognition. There she developed both a president's opportunity and mathematics tutoring program for minority students.
She retired in 1991 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Science. The Center for Excellence selected her to receive the Achievement in Excellence Award in 1999 and, in 2001, she was the first recipient of the Reginald Wilson Award for noteworthy accomplishments in diversifying higher education.
Throughout her career, Jewel Plummer Cobb worked to promote opportunities for young women and minorities in the sciences and other traditionally white male-dominated fields. When faced with a shortage of public funds, she turned to private sources and remained committed to her belief that education was the key to a life of success and independence.
- Arrangement:
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The collection is organized into seven series: I. Publications; II. Writings and Research; III. Conferences, Meetings, Seminars and Workshops; IV. Topical Files; IV. Clippings; VI. Legislation Related Documents Acts; VII. Biographical
Access and use
- Terms of access:
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The Cobb Collection is the physical property of California State University, Los Angeles, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, Special Collections and Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
Folder title, Series, Box number, Collection tile, followed by Special Collections and Archives, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles
- Location of this collection:
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5151 State University DriveLos Angeles, CA 90032-8300, US
- Contact: