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Lorraine WHey
Professor of Biology
Profile
When Lorraine Wiley was nine years old
her father brought home a magazine
catted Science Fiction Plus. She had
never liked sciencB, but to appease her
father, she read a story about some
peopte tiving on another ptanet. "i
remember it so dearly, " says WHey,
"The ptanet had purple vegetation
everywhere. I thought, Wowl I want to
be an astronomer! I want to go to Ihose
other planetsl My parents couldn't do a
thing with me after that. "
According to Wiley, she took every
science class offered in junior high and
high school and her grades jumped
from low C's to A's. "If I were asked to
write an english composition, it woutd
be about something in science, IJ she
says.
Today Witey teaches plant physiology
and botany in the CSU, Fresno Biology
Department She is also an adviser for
the Health Career Opportunity Program
(HCOP). The program, which is funded
by a Department of Health and Human
Services grant, is designed to Increase
the number of health care professionals
in the San Joaquin Valley rural areas.
"We encourage young people,
especially minority students, to pursue a
career in health care, " explains VJ;j/ey,
"We offer them academic support
throughout their undergraduate studies
and make sure that they take the
courses required for entrance to
medica! schools. On occasion, we 'VB
had the opportunity to visit groups in
local high schools, the Black
communities, and the Chicano
communities to talk to students and
make presentations. We try to get the
students motivated early so they can
successfully make the transition from
high school to preprofessional studies
at the universify "
Q: When you encourage high
school students to pursue a career
in health care, what is their
response?
A: Some of them don't even realize
that they can do it They think science
is too difficult The program sparks an
interest and I am able to be a role
model. I tell them, "I did it, you can
too!"
Q: Did you have a role model?
A: I didn't have any women role
models. I just had really nice teachers.
My father was also a great influence.
He was an avid reader and he was
extremely talented in many ways, but he
never had a formal education. It was
very important to him for my brother
and me to get a good education and go
as far as possible in our chosen fields.
Q: How did you gel from
astronomy to botany?
A: The more I studied astronomy, the
more I realized that I just wasn't that
interested in stars. I began to get more
curious about things that grew and
things that moved. I liked biology and
chemistry so when I entered the local
state college in Sacramento, I searched
through the catalog to find a practical
career opportunity that combined the
two. Medical technology appeared to be
the answer. I wanted to help people
and it looked interesting so I declared it
as my major. Then I went to my first big
college class. It was called Life
Science, and the professor was an
entomologist. Well, this "bug expert"
started to talk about plants, ot all things,
and he made them sound so fascinating
that I immediately decided I had to
study botanyl
29
Object Description
| Title | 1984-85 General Catalog |
| Creator | California State University, Fresno |
| Format | PDF Document |
| Date of publication | 1984-04 |
| Subjects | California State University, Fresno. Curricula. Catalogs |
| Object type | Document |
| Location | Fresno, California |
| Language | eng |
Description
| Title | Page 029 |
| Full Text Search | Lorraine WHey Professor of Biology Profile When Lorraine Wiley was nine years old her father brought home a magazine catted Science Fiction Plus. She had never liked sciencB, but to appease her father, she read a story about some peopte tiving on another ptanet. "i remember it so dearly, " says WHey, "The ptanet had purple vegetation everywhere. I thought, Wowl I want to be an astronomer! I want to go to Ihose other planetsl My parents couldn't do a thing with me after that. " According to Wiley, she took every science class offered in junior high and high school and her grades jumped from low C's to A's. "If I were asked to write an english composition, it woutd be about something in science, IJ she says. Today Witey teaches plant physiology and botany in the CSU, Fresno Biology Department She is also an adviser for the Health Career Opportunity Program (HCOP). The program, which is funded by a Department of Health and Human Services grant, is designed to Increase the number of health care professionals in the San Joaquin Valley rural areas. "We encourage young people, especially minority students, to pursue a career in health care, " explains VJ;j/ey, "We offer them academic support throughout their undergraduate studies and make sure that they take the courses required for entrance to medica! schools. On occasion, we 'VB had the opportunity to visit groups in local high schools, the Black communities, and the Chicano communities to talk to students and make presentations. We try to get the students motivated early so they can successfully make the transition from high school to preprofessional studies at the universify " Q: When you encourage high school students to pursue a career in health care, what is their response? A: Some of them don't even realize that they can do it They think science is too difficult The program sparks an interest and I am able to be a role model. I tell them, "I did it, you can too!" Q: Did you have a role model? A: I didn't have any women role models. I just had really nice teachers. My father was also a great influence. He was an avid reader and he was extremely talented in many ways, but he never had a formal education. It was very important to him for my brother and me to get a good education and go as far as possible in our chosen fields. Q: How did you gel from astronomy to botany? A: The more I studied astronomy, the more I realized that I just wasn't that interested in stars. I began to get more curious about things that grew and things that moved. I liked biology and chemistry so when I entered the local state college in Sacramento, I searched through the catalog to find a practical career opportunity that combined the two. Medical technology appeared to be the answer. I wanted to help people and it looked interesting so I declared it as my major. Then I went to my first big college class. It was called Life Science, and the professor was an entomologist. Well, this "bug expert" started to talk about plants, ot all things, and he made them sound so fascinating that I immediately decided I had to study botanyl 29 |
