April 6, 2022
Learn more about five notable women at MU making a difference in their fields.
At the University of Missouri, there are 1,095 female employees as of 2021, making up 45.7% of the MU’s employee population. Of these 1,095, 814 are professors. There are many more women working in higher education now than there were previously. However, women only make up 36% of professors nationwide, and women of color are especially underrepresented among that population as well.
It is important to recognize women’s pivotal role in higher education. In honor of Women’s History Month, here are just a few of the professors leading the way in their fields. Ranging from journalism to constitutional democracy to plant sciences and more, these women are making a difference at MU.
Rachel Harper: Humanities
For Rachel Harper, associate director of the Honors College and coordinator of the Honors Humanities Sequence at MU, the best part about teaching has always been learning alongside colleagues and students.
“What I love about the course is that I’m always learning,” Harper said. “I get to teach some of the most influential writers, thinkers, artists [and] musicians.”
Harper has been teaching at MU since 1996 and has taught in the Honors Humanities Sequence since 1998. The Humanities Sequence explores a variety of historical works ranging from philosophical texts, ancient artwork and music.
Originally from Champaign, Illinois, Harper studied English and Spanish at Illinois Wesleyan University and received her doctorate degree in American Literature from MU. Harper was interested in books from a young age and knew she wanted to do something that involved reading and understanding literature.
“A lot of the texts and works that we’re looking at in Humanities are things that I hope people will come back to –– that they will carry with them as they go forward,” Harper said.
Harper believes it’s important to enjoy the lighthearted elements of studying humanities while still remembering the nuances of the material.
“I always tell my students that they only have one job, and I have the same job, which is to find the fun without sacrificing complexity,” Harper said.
Christina Carney: Black Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies
Christina Carney, an assistant professor in MU’s Black Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies departments, originally thought she would become a lawyer.
Originally from Chicago, Carney attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and planned to study political science. After taking a course on race, sex and deviance, she shifted her focus to researching the intersection of gender, race and sexuality.
“I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, really,” Carney said.
Carney received her doctoral degree in ethnic studies from the University of California San Diego in 2016 and began teaching at MU soon after. Currently, Carney is finishing her book, “Disreputable Women: Militarized Deviance and the Black Sexual Economy of San Diego,” an extension of her doctoral dissertation.
In the classroom, Carney incorporates engaging projects that are accessible for all students.
“Anybody can really have something to say based on what I’m presenting, even if you haven’t read [the assigned reading],” Carney said. “It’s just getting students engaged.”
For example, students in Carney’s Understanding Intersectionality class completed a project involving adding relevant information to Wikipedia pages of notable figures or events surrounding the history of intersectionality.
Carney hopes her students take away important lessons on how intersectionality impacts them personally.
“One of the ways I do that is [asking], ‘Okay, how does this affect your life? Why should you be invested in intersectionality?’” Carney said.
Lynda Kraxberger: Journalism
When Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies Lynda Kraxberger started off in the journalism industry, she didn’t anticipate her passion for reporting would develop into an interest in higher education and finding solutions for large-scale issues.
“I always loved being in the news business because I was solving problems, and I was helping to provide what I believed to be vital information to the public at large,” Kraxberger said.
Kraxberger studied foreign affairs at the University of Virginia and received her master’s degree in journalism from MU. She joined the Missouri School of Journalism in 1993 while working as an executive producer for KOMU, one of Columbia’s television news stations.
Kraxberger took on the role of associate dean in 2012 after years of teaching a variety of what she calls “meat and potatoes” courses –– foundational classes focused on reporting basics. Additionally, Kraxberger helped develop the Journalism School’s convergence program, which incorporated new technology into journalism education.
“Most people don’t think about how broad that ecosystem is for journalism, [and] that there is a need to present that information in lots of different ways,” Kraxberger said.
Kraxberger continues to teach occasionally today, including sections of the Walter Williams Honors Freshman Interest Group class. Ultimately, it is Kraxberger’s commitment to inclusivity and expansion within the field of journalism and her dedication to kindness that stand out.
“Approaching every person with that spirit of generosity and compassion is something I work very hard on,” she said.
Anne Twitty: Constitutional Democracy
Anne Twitty, a distinguished visiting professor at MU’s Kinder Institute for Constitutional Democracy, enjoys the challenge of revitalizing the impact of history.
“I think people don’t often associate history with cool, cutting edge stuff, and yet there is a lot of interesting work that has been done and is now so much more readily available [than] it used to be,” Twitty said.
Twitty is on leave for the 2021-22 school year from the University of Mississippi, where she teaches courses on the history of American slavery, the Antebellum era, gender history and more. Twitty began teaching in 2010 after receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science from The George Washington University and master’s and doctorate degrees in history from Princeton University.
One formative experience Twitty attributes to her passion for teaching history was working with colleagues and students at the University of Mississippi to relocate a Confederate monument on campus.
“That was just a real education for me and has shaped my thinking about how we make progress,” Twitty said.
Twitty appreciates modernizing the study of American history through mediums, such as online databases and musical analysis, and tries to incorporate unique practices in her classes. Literature has also had a significant impact on her career.
“The classroom can be a kind of ephemeral experience, but the books often remain,” she said. “If you spend enough time with books, it’s like you can so clearly see people’s personalities.”
Sherry Flint-Garcia: Plant Science & Technology
Many MU students might not know that Curtis Hall houses a corn mill Plant Science & Technology researchers use to grind different varieties of corn into tortillas and other products to study the grain. For Sherry Flint-Garcia, this is part of her day-to-day role as a research geneticist at MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
“For me, it’s all corn all the time,” Flint-Garcia said.
Flint-Garcia is a plant research geneticist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service and an adjunct professor at MU. She began working for the USDA at MU in 2004 after receiving her doctorate degree in plant genetics at the university and her bachelor’s degree in biology from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Flint-Garcia originally studied pre-medicine in college but pivoted to plant genetics after discovering she did not want to be a doctor. Flint-Garcia soon discovered a research subject she was passionate about: corn.
“As a crop, corn is very important in the U.S., it’s a major commodity,” Flint-Garcia said. “The thing that I’m working on now is trying to revolutionize corn to make it taste better for people.”
Flint-Garcia grew up on a farm near Roscoe, Minnesota, and is the oldest of seven children. She attributes her passion for plants to her mother, whom she gardened with regularly from a young age. Now, Flint-Garcia works with other scientists in Columbia and around the world to further innovation in the field of plant genetics through researching and modifying different varieties of corn.
Flint-Garcia recognizes the importance of exploring different possibilities before figuring out what one wants to pursue.
“Sometimes one of the most important things to learn is what you don’t want to do,” she said.
Edited by Camila Fowler | cfowler@themaneater.com
Comments
The Maneater has the right to remove comments that do not comply with policies surrounding hate speech.