By Gail Saxton ’81
In my memory, my time at Wilson is binary: the before, and the after. I arrived at Wilson in 1977 as a legacy
student – my mother, Barbara Lewis Saxton, was class of ’54 – intending
to study engineering (Wilson had an engineering program with Georgia Tech for a hot second). In spring of 1979,
the Wilson College Board of Trustees voted to close the College. This marked the first of many moments in my career when I would learn to navigate challenging times and come out the better for it.
While many of my classmates were protesting and watching the proceedings at the courthouse, I was carrying coursework in math, physics, and chemistry, as well as pursuing a double major in French. One of my science profs threatened to fail us if we skipped class or protested. Of course, Wilson was saved in the end, but we all had to do our share in the meantime. We enrolled in classes at neighboring schools, took independent study, and found other alternatives to pursuing our studies.
I decided to stay at Wilson instead of completing my degree at Georgia Tech. I was part of the class of 1981, which graduated 33 out of an entering class of 66.
After graduation, I went west, landing in Aspen, Colorado, where I worked first at the Roaring Fork Energy Center, then as a waitress/bartender (read: ski bum). I entered engineering school in 1983 at the Colorado School of Mines, where I learned for the first time the deeper value of my Wilson education.
In my classes, I was frequently the only woman in the room – quite a contrast to my experience at Wilson! I often went toe to toe with professors who made sexist comments and assignments. Wilson set me up to advocate for myself and for other women.
It was a unique time, as new environmental policies and a surge in interest in hiring women led to many job offers. I went to work for Exxon, which in addition to oil was also starting to pursue opportunities in renewable energy sources. I was soon put in the environmental group.
At the time, environmental engineering was in its absolute infancy and required creativity and collaboration. It was a great time to be in this field and doing truly cutting-edge work while simultaneously inventing the discipline. It was a privilege to work with people whose intentions were to make the world a cleaner place. I worked side by side with federal, state, and local regulators who had the impossible task of writing regulations to comply with laws that often defied the laws of physics and nature. While my engineering degree and Professional Engineering (P.E.) license gave me the credentials to perform engineering tasks, I credit my Wilson education with giving me the agility, communication, and marketing skills that ultimately made me successful.
After a two-year stint at Exxon, I went to work for an environmental consulting firm, Engineering-Science (Parsons). At both Exxon and Parsons, even though more women had entered the field, I was often the only woman in the room, and I continued to mentor and advocate for younger women engineers.
Looking back, I appreciate how being at Wilson when the College itself was experiencing a challenge prepared me to be a leader in my profession during a time of innovation and change. Wilson was cutting-edge in 1869 when she started as a college to educate women. She was cutting-edge in 1977 when she offered an engineering program for women. She was cutting-edge in 1979 when she stayed open against all odds. She’s been cutting-edge in our rapidly changing world, and I have faith that Wilson will continue to be cutting-edge long into her future.
