Nell Dale

Name: Nell Dale
Title: Sr. Lecturer, retired
Company: Computer Sciences Dept., University of Texas at Austin
Contact Information: ndale@cs.utexas.edu
Webpage:  http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ndale/

How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): I taught Computer Sciences at the University of Texas for 27 years before I retired.  I started writing text books in the early 1980s because I didn't like the ones I had been using.  I found that I loved writing.  I combined teaching and writing until I retired. Now I concentrate on writing.

How I organize my day: I get up about 6:30, have breakfast,and go down to my home office.  I work until about 6:00 on most days.  I do, however, play tennis two mornings a week and work at the church one morning.
 

Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): About 10 hours a day on Monday and Thursday, about 7 hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and about 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

What I do to get myself thinking creatively: Creativity can be conjured up.  In my view, one either thinks creatively or one doesn't.

My problem-solving strategy: I am intuitively a top-down thinker.  I solve problems as I designed programs.  Perhaps this is one reason that object-oriented design has been hard for me to grasp.  Now that I have, I see that it is influencing my general problem-solving strategies.

What I do to relieve stress: Play tennis and bridge.

My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: My aunts who were school teachers as I was growing up.  They didn't think it strange that a girl could like mathematics.  Since this was in the 1950s, it was unusual.

What I do to mentor those who work for me: To mentor successfully, one must listen, offer guidance and support, and always try to find something constructive to say.

How a negative event changed my life in a positive way: When I finished my Ph.D. I chose to stay at the University of Texas where I had received my degree and my husband was on the faculty even though I could not be hired on tenure track.  I spent my career as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer.  Although viewed by some as a less prestigious career, I was able to spend my time on what was
important to me: the students.

One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: I can't think of any major decisions that I would change.  A few minor decisions such as eating the second brownie or bidding that un-makable slam might bear scrutiny however.

What values are the most important to me and what I value in others: My family is the most important thing to me: my husband of 38 years, our 5 children,  our 8 grandchildren, and our succession of Labrador dogs.  I have been able to have it all--career and family--because of the strong support of my husband. If this question refers to abstract values, then I would have to say that honesty and living up to one's potential are the two values that I admire most.

What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily: I just love what I do.  One of the saddest things I have seen over my teaching career is students who are studying computing because of parental pressure or because of the perceived profits. How sad to have to spend every day doing something you don't enjoy.

Biography: http://www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/nell_dale_bio.html

Last Modified: Thursday, 01-Aug-2002 15:15:30 EDT
Location: http://www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/Nell_Dale.html