Interview with Lorraine Garkovich, March 1, 1992

Interview Summary

In this third interview with Lorraine Garkovich, she describes the importance of communication in her profession. She states that communication between herself and her colleagues is constant, but that the communication between different departments is minimal. She discusses the differences between the Sociology Department in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Rural Sociology Department of the College of Agriculture. Garkovich describes her committee work as a means of gaining information about the university as a whole. She mentions her work with the UK Senate Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women and with the Rural Sociological Society. She describes the organization of the Rural Sociology Department as being a single administrative and a single academic unit.

Garkovich describes working with graduate students and her method of letting graduate students take a project and run with it. She recalls incidents of working with difficult people, and explains how being single can be advantageous to someone in her career. She discusses the rewards of her job including personal satisfaction and the responsibility that she feels towards the people of Kentucky. She explains the stress of her work and mentions committees, deadlines, and the frustrations of knowing that things need to be done. Garkovich describes her greatest professional achievement as just getting as far as she has. She talks about the time commitments of her various work activities such as research, advising, teaching, and administrative work, and discusses the nature of the research on rural families, fertility, and farm women. Garkovich talks about sources of funding for research, and describes a research project she completed with the USDA Agricultural Co-op Service. She also discusses her teaching methods and her personal classroom style.

Interview Keyword

Nature of Academic Work

Interview LC Subject

Garkovich, Lorraine Garkovich, Lorraine--Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.