Cobb, Jewell Plummer 1924–

Jewell Plummer Cobb 1924–

Scientist, educator

Education Fueled by Love of Biology

Began Cell Biology Research

Administration Focused on Minorities and Women

Selected writings

Sources

Coming from a long line of relatives that worked in the medical and science fields, Jewell Plummer Cobb dedicated her life first to the research of cellular biology and then to the teaching of science to people of minority status. As the president of California State University-Fullerton, Cobb made advances in the opportunities to motivate minority students of all ages to study science and engineering and has been honored due to her work by numerous colleges as well as by the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C.

Jewell Plummer Cobb was born on January 17, 1924, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the only child of Frank V. Plummer, a middle-class doctor, and Carriebel Cole Plummer, a dance instructor who worked closely with the Works Projects Administration in the 1930s. Cobb’s father was one of the main inspirations in the young girl’s life, making it clear to her that the most important thing in life was making life better for those around you. Frank Plummer lived by this rule, setting up his first office on the corner where a streetcar had a transfer point for commuting stockyard workers. This allowed the workers, almost all of who were men and women of color, to use the transfer time to visit his office and receive medical treatment without having to take time off of work and without having to pay out transportation fees to get to a doctor’s office.

Education Fueled by Love of Biology

Even though Cobb faced the same segregation that all minorities faced in the 1930s and 1940s, she was privy to the advantages of a middle-class upbringing. Her family continued to move into better and better neighborhoods in the city as they became available due to white families moving out of the city and into the suburbs, allowing Cobb to attend better public schools throughout her primary schooling. She learned to read at an early age and she took advantage of her father’s large home library which contained numerous scientific journals and magazines, up to date newspapers, and a thorough collection of books that chronicled the achievements of black Americans. Her parents also owned a cottage in Idlewild, Michigan, where a number of well to do black families vacationed during the summer months.

Cobb’s two passions during her youth were education and her social life at the Saint Edmunds Episcopal

At a Glance…

Born on January 17, 1924, In Chicago, IL; daughter of Carriebel Cole Plummer and Frank V. Plummer; married Roy Cobb, July 4, 1954 (divorced); children: Jonathan Cobb, Education: Talladega College, BA, 1944;s New York University, MS, 1947, PhD, 1950.

Career: New York Univ., instructor, 1955-56, assistant professor, 1956-60; Hunter College, visiting lecturer, 1956-57; Sarah Lawrence College, biology professor, 1960-69; Connecticut College, zoology professor, dean, 1969-76; Rutgers Univ., Douglass College, biology professor, dean, 1976-81; California State Univ. Fullerton, president, 1981-90, president emerita, 1990-; ACCESS Center, California State Univ. Los Angeles, principal investigator, 1991—; ASCEND Project, Science Technology Engineering Program (STEP) Up for Youth, 2001-.

Memberships: National Academy of Sciences, Human Resources Commission, 1974-; Educ Policy Center, New York City, board of directors; National Science Foundation, board of directors, 1974-; Travelers Insurance Co., board of directors, 1974-; 21st Century Foundation, board of directors; National Fund for Minority Engineering Students, 1978-; Californians Preventing Violence, board of directors, 1983-; First Interstate Bancorp, board of directors, 1985-; Newport Harbor Museum, board member; numerous others.

Awards: Research grant, American Cancer Society, 1969-74, 1971-73, 1974-77; Natl Academy of Science, Lifetime Achievement Award, 1993; Ronald Wilson Award, American Council on Education, 2001; 21 honorary doctorates Including: Wheaton College, 1971; Lowell Technical Institute, 1972; Pennsylvania Medical College, 1975; City College of the City Univ, of New York; St. Lawrence Univ., College of New Rochelle; Tuskegee Univ,; Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.

Addresses: Office—President Emerita, California State University, Fullerton, 800 North State College Blvd, Fullerton, CA, 92831.s

Church, where she made a good deal of friends and sang in the church choir. Cobb was serious about her middle and high school classes and she soon found herself interested in attending college to follow her new found love of science. During her sophomore year of high school, she had already decided on biology as her field of study and took an extra year of biology-related classes before she graduated even though they were not required. Cobb feared, however, that her high school education, no matter how extensive, might not be good enough, because during this time period it was difficult for African Americans to get good high school educations due to the gerrymandering of the school districts that prevented integration into the more prestigious high schools. Cobb overcame these hurdles, however, by studying hard to be at the top of her class and joining numerous extra-curricular activities such as the honor society. By the time she had graduated, she had already secured a place as an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan.

While the University of Michigan was known for its high level of educational excellence and its well known football team, it was not immune to the rigors of segregation. All black students, undergraduate and graduate, were housed in one dorm, and often students of minority status were not allowed to take certain classes or major in certain fields of study. By the end of her third semester at the University of Michigan, Cobb saw little hope of fully studying biology and with the urging of Hilda Davis, the dean of women at the time, Cobb got a transfer to Talladega College in Alabama. Unfortunately for Cobb, Talladega did not recognize any of the credits she had taken at the University of Michigan, so she entered Talladega with freshman status. Motivated not to fall behind, Cobb took up an accelerated program where she was able to study with private tutors and during the summer sessions and test out of many of the required classes at Talladega. Three and a half years later, in 1944, Cobb graduated from Talladega with a B.A. in biology.

Cobb intended to continue on for a graduate education in cellular biology, but again found obstacles in her way. During her last year at Talladega she had applied to New York University and had been accepted, but found it impossible to attend the college without financial aid. She applied for a teaching fellowship but was initially denied because of her race. Not willing to be turned away so easily, Cobb arrived at New York University and talked directly to the head of the fellowship department, pleading her case and promoting her excellent credentials and references. By the end of her meeting at the fellowship department, Cobb had secured herself a five-year teaching fellowship which she utilized to gain her master’s degree in cell physiology in 1947 and her doctorate in the same field in 1950.

Began Cell Biology Research

Most students during this time who came out of school with a Ph.D. in cell physiology went into a medical career, but Cobb opted to work in a biology research lab at the National Cancer Institute instead due to her love of theoretical research over pathological application. She also made sure that the lab she joined focused on cellular biology, which observes the action and interaction of living cells, instead of molecular biology, which observes mainly atoms and molecules that make up cells. At the National Cancer Institute she studied the effects of chemotherapy drugs on human cells infected with cancer, producing research that is still used today in creating new and more effective tools to fight cancer.

In 1952 Cobb moved on to become the director of the Tissue Culture Laboratory at the University of Illinois where she began doing pigment cell research, particularly melanin, a brown or black pigment that colors skin. She continued this research as she entered into academia, becoming an assistant professor and researcher at New York University in 1955. Cobb’s main interest in melanin was its protective properties, specifically its ability to block ultraviolet rays from damaging human skin cells. By 1960, when she moved to Sarah Lawrence College to become a professor of biology, Cobb was working mainly with melanoma, a skin tumor created by ultraviolet light that is often harmful to skin cells and can result in skin cancer. Skin cell research, however, was not the only thing that Cobb was focusing on during the 1950s. On July 4, 1954, Cobb married Roy Cobb and three years later the couple had a son, Jonathan, in 1957.

In 1967 Cobb and her husband divorced and two years later, in 1969, Cobb found herself the dean of Connecticut College as well as a professor of zoology. It was at Connecticut College that Cobb first made strides in educational administration to assist those students of minority status. She created both privately pre-dental graduate programs for minority students, programs which served as models for other colleges dealing with a lack of minority students in these fields. Cobb continued to do research in between teaching and administration work, but it was clear to her by the time that she left Connecticut College in 1976 that she was more interested in moving fully into the administrative side of teaching.

Administration Focused on Minorities and Women

Between 1976 and 1981, Cobb took up at Douglass College, a school within Rutgers University, as dean and professor of biological sciences. It was here that she continued to push for minorities in science fields, both by creating new programs and by making the community more aware of those underrepresented. She wrote a paper in 1979 entitled “Filters for Women in Science,” which was published in the book Expanding the Role of Women in Sciences, and reprinted in the Annals of New York Academy of Sciences. The paper created an analogy between educational systems and filters, proposing that educational systems made it difficult, if not impossible, for women to choose a career in the field of science. Much like a filter which stops anything bigger than the size of its pores, educational systems along with social systems created a mindset where women were discouraged from studying math and science and were in turn often barred from getting university tenure and equal pay if they entered these fields.

In 1981 Cobb became the president of California State University (CSU) in Fullerton, California, where she continued to push not only for minorities in science, but also for better quality education for all students. One of her most impressive acts was gaining state funding for the college to build a new engineering and computer science building as well as a new general science building. She also used the funds to build an apartment complex where students could live, converting CSU from a commuter college into a full residential college. She started the first president’s opportunity program for ethnic students at CSU, hoping to draw in those students who were underrepresented. Privately, Cobb has also funded a gerontology center on CSU’s campus.

In 1990 Cobb became a trustee professor at California State College in Los Angeles, involving her in a consortium of six colleges in the Long Beach Basing which are dedicated to motivate minority students into the fields of science and mathematics. This program, funded by the National Science Foundation, is one of the many moves colleges have been making toward corporate funding and away from federal funding whose budgets get smaller every year. In 1991 Cobb signed on as a principal investigator for Southern California Science and Engineering ACCESS Center and Network, a group that looks for minority students hoping to major in the sciences and funding their education.

Cobb has continued at CSU to promote more minority students to join both the science and math programs. In this vein she has created a program where faculty members can tutor students on an individual basis in order for them to succeed in these programs. Cobb has spoken at lengths in the media about the disparity of the number of minorities in science labs and the number of minorities in sports. She hopes that through her efforts and the efforts of others, the numbers can begin to equal out and people of minority status can be prevalent in all types of professions, not just a select few. For her efforts Cobb has been presented with numerous awards including honorary doctorates from numerous universities, research grants, and awards from the American Council on Education.

Selected writings

“Filters for Women in Science,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 323, 1979.

Breaking Down Barriers to Women Entering Science, 1979.

Issues and Problems: A Debate, 1979.

Sources

Books

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 323, 1979.

Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 22, Gale, 2002.

Notable Black American Women, Book I, Gale, 1992.

Who’s Who Among African Americans, 16th edition, Gale, 2003.

Periodicals

Black Issues in Higher Education, December 6, 2001.

On-line

“Noted Biologist Jewel Plummer Cobb Receives 1999 Achievement in Excellence Award,” California State University, www.calstate.edu/newsline/Archive/99-00/991007-LA.shtml (October 28, 2003).

“Past and Present Leadership of The California State University,” California State University, www.cal-state.edu/PA/info/leaders.shtml (October 28, 2003).

Other

Additional information for this profile was obtained through an interview from Notable Black American Women, Book I, on January 9, 1991, and the personal papers of Jewell Plummer Cobb, housed in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City.

—Dona L. Irvin, Jennifer M. York, and Ralph G. Zerbonia