Marye Anne Fox, chancellor, University of California, San Diego

Marye Anne Fox, who was inaugurated as chancellor of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in March, knows flexibility and relationship-building can have unexpected pay-offs.

Fox originally wanted to teach chemistry and physics to high-school students. But when her first husband opted to do his medical residency in a small town in her home state of Ohio, Fox found no teaching jobs. So she began graduate work. (see CV).

And when her husband got drafted and assigned to Andrews Airforce Base near Washington DC, she landed a postdoc position at the University of Maryland in College Park. When his military stint ended, her husband could set up in medical practice anywhere, and was willing to follow Fox wherever her next job took her.

This turned out to be the University of Texas, Austin, where she became the first female assistant professor. She found she relished administrative tasks as much as research. So a chance meeting with former professor Norman Hackerman, who maintained an office in Fox's building, opened new doors. “He really served as a mentor to me, and suggested my name for a number of committees,” Fox says.

Fox says she never experienced any tangible discrimination in the early stages of her career. But she was often the only woman on local and national committees, which sensitized her to issues of discrimination and the under-representation of women and minorities in science. Fox thinks one answer to under-representation is to make people who bring in new faculty members and staff accountable. As part of staff members' yearly appraisal at UCSD, she will ask what efforts they've made to recruit women and minorities. She stresses that this is not an affirmative action approach, but an attempt to ensure that women and minorities are at least in the pool of candidates.

Although discouraged that the number of women receiving tenure-track posts is far fewer than the number receiving PhDs, she still tells women that “there's never been a more exciting time in science” and encourages them to try, despite the obstacles.

These may include raising a family while advancing one's career. But Fox says she is proof it can be done, while maintaining a balanced life. “I'm no superwoman, by any means,” she says.