Gwen Norrell received a B.S. in history from Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, taught for two years in Arkansas, went to Columbia for her Masters in Counseling, and received a Doctor of Education degree from Colorado. Norrell began working at Michigan State University in 1945 in the area of vocational guidance. She tested veterans on career choices and traveled throughout Michigan recruiting students to attend MSU. Norrell was instrumental in creating the present-day Admissions Office (originally called the Office of High School Cooperation). She was responsible for testing student applicants (through a secure exam) for the Alumni Distinguished Scholarship, a program for very bright young scholars. She also began a program for disadvantaged students (the Detroit Project of 1967) who were very poor but had good potential as students. The initial group consisted of 11 Black students and 11 white students, and outgrowths from this project were the 1970 Lansing Project which helped older minorities and the Flint Project. Norrell achieved many firsts in her time at MSU. She was the first woman to chair the University Steering Committee and Academic Senate during the Wharton presidency, the first woman to be a faculty athletic representative to the Big 10, and the first woman president of the NCAA. In this position she was a great advocate for MSU athletics and was responsible for integrating women into athletics which was precursor to Title IX. She also set up the academic portion of the research unit in the NCAA. In 1973 Norrell received the MSU Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award, was named 1978 honorary alumnus, and in 2000 she was named to the MSU Athletic Hall of Fame. Norrell retired from MSU in 1988. Topics/people covered in the interview include: Affirmative Action; alcohol regulations; Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award; ADS program; Association of Inercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW); Athletic Council; integrating women into athletics; Nell Awl; Basic College; Big Ten; Black Student Alliance; James Bonnen; Jack Breslin; Walter Byers; Don Cannum; Joe Carney; Elaine Cherney; Dem, Fee, Wilson Hall; Detroit Project; John DiBiaggio; Duffy Daugherty; Paul Dressel; Elizabeth Drews; Wayne Duke; Clifford Erickson; Faculty Women's Association; Bill Finni; Flint Project; John Fuzak; G I Bill; Michael Grost; Donald Grummon; Thomas Gunnings; John Hannah; Edgar Harden; Ann Harrison; Judd Heathcote; Henman Foundaton; Guy Hill; Honors College; Cam Hunter; Nell Jackson; Ruth Jameyson; Magic Johnson; Joe Kerney; Horace King; Lansing Project; Donna Lopeanno; Cecil Mackey; Ron Mason; Marie Mercer; alcohol regulations; discrimination against women; gays and lesbians on campus; Learning Resource Center; minority recruitment; More Education, More Oppportunity (MEMO); National Merit Scholar program; Quonset village; racism; recruitment of minorities; smoking regulations; student activism in 1960s; summer orientation program; University College; veterans from/after WW II; Clarence "Biggie" Munn; NCAA; Project Ethyl; Rockefeller Foundation; Daryl Rogers; Gordon Sabine; Lou Anna Simon; Bert Smith; Bubba Smith; Southern Education Review Board; Title IX; John Toner; University Club; Volunteer Placement Corps; Willard Warrington; Doug Weaver; Wharton Center for Performing Arts; Clifton Wharton; Roger Wilkinson; John Wilson
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