Sandra C. Greer

Sandra C. Greer studied chemistry and mathematics at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in 1966. She then went to the University of Chicago where she received her master's degree in 1968 and her Ph.D. in 1969 in chemical physics.

In 1969 Greer joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where she worked the Heat Division until 1978. Greer helped to found NIST's Standards Committee for Women (SCW) and advocated for equitable treatment of women at NIST.

In 1978 she joined the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was the first woman to be hired on a regular research track in the department of chemistry and biochemistry. She was promoted to full professor in 1983. From 1987 to 1988 she chaired the President's Committee on Undergraduate Education, developing an extensive report, Making a Difference for Women. Also known as the Greer Report, it became the university's blueprint for the advancement of women.[http://www.ench.umd.edu/news/news_story.php?id=3208 Greer Named Provost, Dean of Faculty of Mills College.] Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering News, University of Maryland, 22 May 2008. She held a number of administrative posts at Maryland, including serving as the first woman department chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry between 1990 and 1993.

In addition to being a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, she became a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 1995,{{cite web|title=Distinguished University of Maryland Chemist/Chemical Engineer Appointed as Mills College Provost|url=http://www.mills.edu/news/2008/sandra_greer_newsarticle051908.php|website=Mills College|accessdate=18 December 2015}} where she was the department's first tenured woman faculty member.{{cite web|title=Greer to Lead at Historic Women's College|url=http://www.eng.umd.edu/html/news/news_story.php?id=3226|website=A. James Clark School of Engineering|accessdate=18 December 2015}} She also developed a program of ethics courses for scientists, with the intention of teaching students "how to recognize an ethical dilemma when they see one, and how to think through it."{{cite web|title=Greer Receives NSF Funding for Ethics Courses|url=http://www.chbe.umd.edu/news/news_story.php?id=2874|website=A. James Clarke School of Engineering|accessdate=18 December 2015}}

In 2008, Greer became provost and dean of the faculty at Mills College in Oakland, California, where she was also professor of chemistry and physics, and holder of the Scheffler Pre-Health Science Chair. She retired as provost and dean in 2013, and retired fully in 2015.

{{blockquote|"The more we know, the more we must confront how much we do not know, and the more we are humbled by the ignorance of all of us together and of each of us individually. This resulting state of humility actually is a desirable state... because that state of mind makes us open to asking more questions and finding more answers." Sandra Greer, 2012{{cite news|last1=Greer|first1=Sandra|title=Education for Humility|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sandra-greer/education-for-humility_b_2316238.html|accessdate=18 December 2015|work=Huffington Post|quote=Adapted from the Mills College Convocation Address, "Education for Humility," September 28, 2012|date=December 17, 2012}}}}

She has been committed throughout her career to ensuring that more women pursue a scientific career. At the national level, she helped to found the Committee for the Advancement of Women in the Chemical Sciences (COACh) in 1998. In 2014, she received the American Chemical Society's Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences.Davis Goll: [http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/09/22/smallb7.html Sandra Greer goes to Oakland's Mills College.] San Francisco Business Times, 21 September 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2014.Susan J. Ainsworth: [http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i1/ACS-Award-Encouraging-Women-Careers.html ACS Award For Encouraging Women Into Careers In The Chemical Sciences.] Chemical & Engineering News, American Chemical Society, 6 January 2014.

{{blockquote|"We grieve for the unrealized potential of all these women, and we weep for all the science that did not get done because these women were excluded—the questions not asked, the experiments not done, the papers not written, the students not mentored." Sandra Greer, 2014}}

Greer is a member of the American Physical Society (1987),{{cite web|title=Women Fellows|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/women.cfm|website=APS Physics|accessdate=18 December 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222103448/https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/women.cfm|archivedate=22 December 2015}} the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1994),[http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/chem/sgreer/SCGreerCV.pdf Faculty's CV: Sandra C. Greer.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201915/http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/chem/sgreer/SCGreerCV.pdf |date=2016-03-04}} Department of Chemistry, Mills College. Retrieved 21 September 2014. and the Association for Women in Science. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society (1986) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Greer has received numerous awards. In 2004, she received the Garvan–Olin Medal from the American Chemical Society, "for her contributions to the physical chemistry of critical phenomena in fluids and of reversible polymerizations in synthetic polymers" and for her advocacy and work on ethics.{{cite news|title=Women set records for 2004 ACS awards|work=Women Chemists|date=2004|publisher=American Chemical Society|url=http://womenchemists.sites.acs.org/spring-summer_2004.pdf|accessdate=18 December 2015}}

She received the Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences from the American Chemical Society in 2014.[http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/acs-award-for-encouraging-women-into-careers-in-the-chemical-sciences.html ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences.] American Chemical Society.{{cite web|title= American Chemical Society Honors Mills Professor Sandra C. Greer for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences|website=Mills College|url=http://www.mills.edu/news/2014/pressrelease-03272014-GreerACSHonors.php|accessdate=18 December 2015|date=March 25, 2014}}{{cite journal|last1=Ainsworth|first1=Susan J.|title=ACS Award For Encouraging Women Into Careers In The Chemical Sciences|journal=Chemical and Engineering News|date=January 6, 2014|volume=92|issue=1|page=30|url=http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i1/ACS-Award-Encouraging-Women-Careers.html|accessdate=18 December 2015}}

• [http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/chem/sgreer/sgreer.php Sandra C. Greer] Professor of Chemistry, Scheffler Pre-Health Science Chair. Department of Chemistry, Mills College.

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Category:1945 births

Category:21st-century American chemists

Category:Living people

Category:American women chemists

Category:Recipients of the Garvan–Olin Medal

Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:21st-century American women scientists