Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-28-2024

Abstract

As we recognize Women’s History Month this March, we’re remembering some of the notable women in Ouachita’s history. Nell Mondy '43 was a chemistry professor at Ouachita before going on to teach at Cornell University. The Nell Mondy Lecture series, along with several other areas of campus named in her honor, continue to show the legacy she left at Ouachita. This blog is a small look at her many accomplishments both in education and the nutrition field.

Throughout Dr. Nell Mondy’s life, as she faced the challenges of being a pioneering woman in science, addressing food insecurities in third-world countries and becoming an international potato expert, she often repeated a single phrase to herself: “You never fail until you stop trying.”

Mondy had every disadvantage as she entered the world of academics and began her journey in the field of science. She came from a home with a single mother after her dad passed away early in Mondy’s life. Additionally, being a woman in the 1940s posed its own disadvantage, especially being a woman in STEM. Mondy graduated summa cum laude with B.S. and B.A. degrees in chemistry from Ouachita in 1943 and a master’s in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1945. In 1953, she received a Ph. D. in biochemistry from Cornell University where she taught for the majority of her career.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.