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UNIVERSITY
October 27,1999 • the Seahawk
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PROFILE: Kathleen Berkeley
by RACHEL HEALY
Staff Writer
It is a long running joke among Kathleen
Berkeley’s husband and two sons that when
ever the family takes a vacation they must do
something "historical.”
“They always tease me about it: ‘Oh gosh
Mother, another historical site,’ or ‘oh gosh
Mother, another battlefield,’” said the UNCW
history professor. ‘‘But they get into it.”
A recent vacation found the family in Con
cord, Massachusetts at the home of Louisa May
Alcott, a writer whose works Berkeley uses in
many of her classes.
“I gave into a Boston Red Sox’s game with
the agreement that they all came with me to
Louisa May Alcott’s house...l had a great time,
and the boys enjoyed it too,” Berkeley said.
A Los Angeles native, Berkeley received
her BA, MA, and Ph.D. from UCLA. While
in graduate school, she met her future husband,
Harry Tuchmeyer Berkeley taught for one
year at University of California at San Diego
before the couple and their fu-st son moved to
Wilmington in 1981. The decision to move to
the East Coast was a mutual one.
“My husband and I are both coastal
Californians...The thought of being land
locked in Idaho was more than either one of
us could bear,” Berkeley said.
TUchmeyer is currently the associate direc
tor of the public library. Jeremy, the couple’s
oldest son, is a junior at Chapel Hill, while their
younger son, David, is a junior in high school.
Berkeley, who became chair of the History
department last July, specializes in Women’s
History, which is the focus of her new book,
“The Women’s Liberation Movement in
America.” The book is part of a series for
Greenwood Press called Historic Events of the
Twentieth Century. UNCW provided finan
cial support for the book with a Summer Ini
tiative grant for June 1996 and a research re
assignment for the fall 1996 semester.
The books traces the events from the mid-
1800s to the present that have shaped the
women’s movement and thus provides a
clearer picture of contemporary feminism by
placing it in the broader context of the move
ment.
“From the time I taught the period mid
nineteenth century to the present, it became
clear to me, at least through my teaching, that
students have a lot of misconceptions about
feminism—the ‘f’ word,” Berkeley said.
She recalled an early experience with a stu
dent that made her realize the stigma attached
to feminists.
“I’ll never forget the first time I taught the
course here. I was very pregnant with my sec
ond child and halfway through a smdent stayed
after class to say something to me. She said
her ‘mama’ told her that feminists hated men.
And yet here 1 was, obviously teaching the
course from a decided feminist perspective,
obviously married, one son, and very preg
nant,” Berkeley said. “She was trying to get
this grip that obviously I wasn't a man-hater...It
just got me thinking about the misperceptions
about how threatening feminism is, and how
there are stereotypes that are hurtfial.”
In addition to chapters that explain the dif
ferent aspects of the women’s movement,
Berkeley’s book provides a chronology of im
portant events and short biographies of influ
ential women. They range from a mainstream
pohtical feminist like Gloria Steinem, to the
radical Mary Daly, to the conservative PhyUis
Schlafy, who some critics consider and anti
feminist. The book also contains important
documents of the women’s movement, includ
ing the National Organization for Women’s
(NOW) statement of purpose, and a portion of
the Betty Friedan feminist class “The Femi
nine Mystique.”
Berkeley has taught numerous undergradu
ate and graduate courses at UNCW, with sub
jects ranging from women’s history to gender
and power. One of her favorite classes is a
senior seminar on sexuality.
“It’s how we construct our sexuality and
how society has constructed it for us in differ
ent points in time.. .how definitions of rape for
women have changed historically over time;
issues of adultery, pornography, prostitution;
how one era may mark your behavior as devi
ant, whereas another era may mark [it] as ap
propriate,” she said.
While sexuality is a racy subject for some,
Berkeley’s approach is a historical one, and
her goal is to get her students to see that “is
sues of sexuality infuse all parts of us, whether
it’s pop culture, poUtics...the school system—
all kinds of areas.”
Whether teaching about the women’s
movement or sexuality, Berkeley strives for a
balance in perspective. She feels that you can’t
discuss femininity without discussing mascu-
hnity as well.
“Men and women are in these
relationships...When you talk about what is ac
ceptable for women to do, you are really talk
ing about what is or isn’t acceptable in society
for men to do,” Berkeley said.
In her classes and through her book, Ber
keley stresses that it is especially important for
students to realize just how far women have
come. For example, she noted that women’s
equal access to college was not granted until
1972.
“I always say to my students that you can’t
take any gains we have for granted. The study
of history tells us that progress is not linear,
that just because something changes for the
better it doesn’t mean that we’re going to con
tinue in that direction...A gain you might have
could be lost,” she said.
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' _ tising Director Martin Smiley at 962-3789.
Distance Learning emphasized on campm
by MELISSA FARQUHAR
Staff Writer
“If higher education is to survive and grow,
we must innovate” guest speaker Dennis Frailey
told audience members last Monday night dur
ing a lecture titled “Distance Education: Brave
New World or Recipe for Disaster?” In his pre
sentation, Frailey focused on the advantages of
using distance learning to improve the scope of
education, and stressed the importance of incor
porating new technologies into the traditional
realm of education.
Frailey, a senior fellow at Ratheon Company
and an adjunct professor of computer science at
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas
conducts most of his teaching via distance learn
ing techniques. His first experience with distance
learning came in the form of a television broad
cast in 1970. At that time, Frailey’s lectures were
broadcast to students over microwaves and the
students would later respond to his lectures by
phone calls or letters.
“Distance learning has improved much since
then.” Frailey said.
Students can now enroll in on-line courses or
watch taped versions of lectures and participate
in Internet discussions with classmates and pro
fessors.
During his lecture, Frailey criticized the con
servative traditions of most universities.
“There is a real opportunity for the education
community to re-invent itself,” he said, stressing
the importance of innovation within the realm of
education.
Noting the rising price of higher education,
Frailey emphasized the need for an alternative
means of attaining higher education, other than
the traditional university setting.
Frailey urged audience members to work for
a change within traditional academia, and ex
pressed the idea that the field of education is be
coming increasingly competitive, as new and in
novative techniques become readily available.
“If we don’t do it, somebody else will,” he
said.
Frailey also cited the practicality of distance
learning for adults seeking a graduate degree.
Adults trying to obtain a graduate degree are more
apt to look into such programs since they offer a
greater level of schedule flexibility.
Distance learning classes can also be helpfiil
for reviewing lessons that were not fully under
stood initially. A student simply has to rewind a
tape or review course material on-line to get the
James RinuThe Seahavrii
Dennis Frailey advocates computer-
Ized distance learning for colleges.
lesson again. Frailey also noted benefits for po.
fessors who offer distance learning classes, siidi
as better schedule control, easier course delivav
and the elimination of redundant lectures.
Frailey did, however, note that distance learn
ing is not for everyone.
“As a rule, distance education works best for
working professionals seeking graduate level edu
cation or supplementary knowledge,” he said.
Developers are currently working on a means
of securing testing prtx:edures and graded assign
ments. At Southem Methodist University, courses
that are offered for credit require that a proctor be
pnssent during exams, while assignments are sim
ply checked for similarity to other student’s wot
in an attempt to curb cheating.
According to Kim Kelly of the infomiation
technology systems department, UNCW cunenliy
employs several techniques in its distance learn
ing programs.
‘Traditionally it does entail video or video
conferences, but that it changing,” Kelly said
Distance learning programs are increasingly
being referred to as “electronic transfening”, as
the technology improves within the programs.
One of the techniques UNCW currently offers is
video classrooms, in which students meet to watch
lectures that are broadcast to several college cam
puses simultaneously.
UNCW also offers online classes, which al
low students and professors to have interaction
via the Intemet, as well as classes conducted b;
taped lectures.
Frailey ended his lecture Monday night by
emphasizing that the “greater opportunity is in
re-engineering how we educate.” He said it is up
to the universities to improve the way they intff-
act with adult distance learners or they risk losing
that part of the student body to other educatim
providers.
The department of computer science spon
sored Frailey’s lecture.
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