Beth Burroughs shared this remembrance of her mother:
Ann Scott graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1969. She spent the 70s focused on her four children, and then took business, accounting and law classes part time in preparation for the Certified Public Accountant exam – which she passed the first time around, surprising herself, but not us children, who had long considered her the smartest person we knew! This was in the early 80s, and the process of obtaining the CPA license was not simple. The governing board was unwilling to allow her part-time work as an accountant to fulfill the required internship hours for granting her license. At the time I thought it was grossly unfair, but of course in hindsight (having negotiated the difficult balance of family and career in a mathematics department) I’m even more outraged at the obstacles put in my mother’s way as she tried to live up to the demands of both family and career. She, and women like her, quietly broke the trail so that women like me would have an easier time on this path. Mom is now happily retired and grandmother of five.
Grandma Got STEM 