Linda Pessar Cowan ’66
- 1960s
When I was a child, I wanted to be a doctor. However, social disapproval for this ambition for women intimidated me. When I arrived at Wellesley, I had given up that plan, but medicine still haunted me. At the end of my junior year, I confided in Helen Corsa, an English professor and my mentor, “If I had to do it over again, I’d go into medicine.” Despite the fact that fewer than 10 percent of physicians were women, and I had not taken pre-med courses, Helen replied: “If that’s how you feel at 20, how will you feel at 40? If you want to do this, then do it.” I believe that in the mid-1960s, few at colleges or universities would have given that advice. The Wellesley ethos supported ambition and minimized gender norms. That ethos encouraged me to become a physician, a profession I practiced for 50 years.
