Maryly Peck Oral History
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Dublin Core
Title
Maryly Peck Oral History
Description
Maryly Van Leer Peck is President Emeritus of Polk Community College, where in 1982 she served as its first woman president, and consequently the first woman president of a Florida institution of higher learning. Throughout her over 45-year career, Dr. Peck established many other firsts for women in engineering.
In 1951 Dr. Peck was the first woman to graduate with a degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University. She went on to also become the first woman to receive a M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Florida. Peck began her career in the aerospace industry as a research engineer, working for the Washington, D.C. Naval Research Laboratory and Rocketdyne Corporation in California. She was also very early on involved in academia, teaching courses in engineering, chemistry, and math at various southern U.S. colleges. Peck accomplished all of this while working on her Ph.D., raising four children, and at the same time serving as SWE's national vice president.
Before her tenure in Florida's higher education system, Dr. Peck lived on the island of Guam for 11 years. There, she became the first woman dean of the College of Business and Applied Technology at the University of Guam and founder and dean of what is now the Community College of Guam.
A long-time SWE member, Peck has been featured in Life Magazine, named Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Florida in 1991, and received recognition and awards for her work in the advancement and awareness of engineering as a profession for women. She currently serves on the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council at the University of Florida.
In 1951 Dr. Peck was the first woman to graduate with a degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University. She went on to also become the first woman to receive a M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Florida. Peck began her career in the aerospace industry as a research engineer, working for the Washington, D.C. Naval Research Laboratory and Rocketdyne Corporation in California. She was also very early on involved in academia, teaching courses in engineering, chemistry, and math at various southern U.S. colleges. Peck accomplished all of this while working on her Ph.D., raising four children, and at the same time serving as SWE's national vice president.
Before her tenure in Florida's higher education system, Dr. Peck lived on the island of Guam for 11 years. There, she became the first woman dean of the College of Business and Applied Technology at the University of Guam and founder and dean of what is now the Community College of Guam.
A long-time SWE member, Peck has been featured in Life Magazine, named Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Florida in 1991, and received recognition and awards for her work in the advancement and awareness of engineering as a profession for women. She currently serves on the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council at the University of Florida.
Oral History Item
Interviewer
Lauren Kata
Interviewee
Peck, Maryly Van Leer
Date Recorded
2003-06-13
Coverage
1930’s-present
Citation
“Maryly Peck Oral History,” Michigan Oral History Database, accessed October 23, 2024, http://www.database.michiganoha.org/items/show/310.