FAYETTEVILLE, NY, December 21, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Ethel "Sue" Susan Palmer with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Ms. Palmer celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Having drawn inspiration from the example of her grandmother, who worked as a curator for the P.T. Barnum Research Collection at the Bridgeport Public Library, Ms. Palmer faced an incredible amount of adversity and dissuasion in her formative years, having never been encouraged towards a path to success by her father, peers and teachers. Working in laborious jobs throughout her youth as a young mother, including in food service, farm work and animal care, she was gradually exposed to a wealth of practical skills, including in engineering, customer relations, product presentation and labor management. Although she had the qualifications to excel in a number of fields, Ms. Palmer had to wait until she accrued her second master's degree before she was considered for new hire starting salary, even though she had demonstrated her ability to balance her responsibilities as a mother, student and worker.
Without many prominent role models to learn from, Ms. Palmer persisted despite the difficulties facing women in the field while fostering her desire to become a librarian. Encouraged to become a science teacher by her parents and her guidance counselor, she eventually pursued a college education at Cornell University, from which she earned a Bachelor of Science in secondary science education in 1965 and a Master of Science in genetics in 1969. However, her academic experience was far from ideal, having been made to feel inferior because of her gender while her male classmates were praised. Ms. Palmer later concluded her studies at the University of California Los Angeles, graduating with a Master of Library Science in 1982.
During her time as the only graduate student working in male-sterile corn inheritance at Cornell University, Ms. Palmer was introduced to a visiting alumni who was observing the department of plant breeding, Barbara McClintock. Though the pair had originally examined colorful ears of corn acquired in Peru, the topic of conversation shifted toward the gender-based discrimination that Dr. McClintock had endured at the Cold Spring Harbor 1951 Symposium on Quantitative Biology. Met with silence from her male peers during her presentation on non-chromosomal inheritance, she realized that she was not seen as a researcher, colleague or equal based on her gender. Nearly 35 years later, Dr. McClintock would finally receive the necessary recognition for her hard work, as she was honored with the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that originated from that presentation, the first woman to do so unshared.
Ms. Palmer subsequently served as a technical information specialist for the Chevron Oil Field Research Company in La Habra, California, between 1982 and her retirement from full-time professional activities in 1999. Helping to bridge the corporate and educational worlds through her work in corporate librarianship, she had her own encounters with discrimination and adversity throughout her career, specifically citing her scientific and geological ideas, which were rebuffed without consideration and, in some instances, even stolen by her male colleagues. In fact, as a female in her discipline, Ms. Palmer notes that she was often disregarded as nothing other than a librarian, not to be seen or heard. Furthermore, she fondly recalls being able to enact change regarding the company's advertising program in order to reflect the presence of women and people of color.
Nevertheless, Ms. Palmer remained dedicated to her work, as well as her community, and functioned as an instructor for Chevron's Adopt-a-School Program from 1984 to 1999. In this capacity, she was able to exhibit her intellectual abilities as a "working woman" in the corporate space to a generation of students who may have been reared to believe in a strictly masculine workspace. Additionally, Ms. Palmer contributed to the aforementioned program as a coordinator between 1989 and 1991.
Ms. Palmer's commitment to supporting her community extended to her very last days at Chevron, having helped disseminate and distribute the company's scientific journals to the La Habra City School District. She is also proud of her effect on the Spanish-speaking children during her time with the Adopt-a-School Program, as she was able to empathize and bond with the students over their mutual struggles in learning and speaking a second language.
Throughout her career, Ms. Palmer was a volunteer with the Laubach Literacy Action of North Orange County in Whittier, California, between 1986 and 1988 and a volunteer for the Family Math and Family Science projects in the La Habra City School District during the early 1990s. She has been affiliated with the Association for Information Science and Technology, the Geoscience Information Society, the Girl Scouts of the USA and Chevron Toastmasters in California. Moreover, Ms. Palmer co-authored a published article titled "The Distance Travelled to Use Public Libraries" alongside Dean Robert Hayes, prior to penning her book, "The Peacock on the Roof: A Memoir about Life on the Road in California."
In light of her many undertakings, Ms. Palmer has accrued several accolades over the years. She was honored with a Certificate of Recognition from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles in 1986, a Certificate of Recognition from the YWCA of Orange County in 1990 and the Outstanding School Volunteer Award from Kraft General Foods and the Walt Disney World Company in 1992. Furthermore, she was celebrated with the Apple Award for Volunteer of the Year from the La Habra Masonic Lodge in 1991. Ms. Palmer was notably selected for inclusion in the 17th edition of Who's Who of American Women in 1991.
In the years following her retirement, Ms. Palmer worked in a limited capacity as an English as a Second Language teacher and citizenship trainer in Syracuse, New York, between 2001 and 2010. Likewise, she volunteered with the refugee program for the Catholic Charities of Syracuse from 2007 until 2011. She remains a vocal and steadfast advocate for women's rights, as she hopes that her story and the stories of others, like that of Barbara McClintock, will help men alter their perspectives of their fellow women colleagues and respect them as equals. Ms. Palmer also aspires to publish her book, which she hopes will help to fund family time rafting on the Colorado River.
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