In 1975, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) asked me to develop a lectureship program that would encourage young women to study mathematics.The problem, a disproportionately small number of women entering the mathematical sciences and other mathematics-dependent careers, had been identified in the early 1970's. A contributing factor was the fact that American young women tend to avoid taking high school mathematics after tenth grade, but young men normally study four years of high school mathematics.

At the time I was asked to direct the program, I was also coordinating the Speakers Bureau of the Saint Peter's College Mathematics Department. This bureau sent department members to make presentations on mathematical topics in New York and New Jersey metropolitan-area secondary schools to stimulate student interest in mathematics. Through the Speakers Bureau, I stressed that mathematics is the “critical filter” in career access, as sociologist Dr. Lucy Sells pointed out. To be prepared for college-level calculus and qualify for majors that lead to careers in the sciences, medicine, engineering, and other technical fields, young women should study at least four years of high school mathematics.

Saint Peter's is a Jesuit college founded in 1872. As the first woman to join the Mathematics Department, I was sensitive to the special needs of women students, who were admitted to the College beginning in 1967. During the 1970's, women accounted for close to half of the College's mathematics majors.