Former nuclear physics teacher in OR to be inducted into TN Women’s Hall of Fame

Elizabeth Rona, a former nuclear physics teacher at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, will be inducted into the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame on Monday, October 26.

Before she immigrated to the United States, Rona was the first woman to teach chemistry in any university in Hungary.

Once in the U.S., she was on the frontlines of the discoveries of isotopes and fission, and later contributed to work in the Manhattan project. She later taught on theory and methods of nuclear physics at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies.

Rona is one of two inductees to be honored posthumously. The ceremony will honor a total of eight women from all three grand divisions of the state (East, Middle, and West), including an astronaut, judge, and civil rights pioneer.

The Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame is a program of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women. The induction ceremony on Monday, October 26, as part of the 12th Annual Economic Summit for Women. The event will take place at noon and will be held at the Nashville Airport Marriott.

“The purpose of the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame is to celebrate and honor women who are extraordinarily accomplished and have made remarkable, unique and lasting contributions to the economic, political, and cultural well-being of Tennessee” said Dena Wise, chair of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women.

The eight inductees are:

Western Division

Janice Holder: Holder was Tennessee’s first female chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court and founding member of the Tennessee Lawyer’s Association for Women. She has worked toward elimination of domestic violence through advocating for women and minorities during her service with the Tennessee Bar Association and American Bar Association.

Zulfat Suara: Suara has contributed to her community as a cultural role model and activist. She has served in organizations such as the Business and Professional Women of TN Inc., Women’s Day on the Hill, and the TN Women’s Political Caucus. She also served as president of the Junior Achievement program, an economic education platform for Hardeman County.

Middle Division

Rhea Seddon: Seddon is a former NASA astronaut, surgeon, and educator. She has provided a female voice in the world of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education and male-centric careers. She successfully completed three space shuttle flights as a part of the first groups of astronauts to include women.

Rosetta Miller Perry: Perry is a civil rights activist and was an Equal Employment Opportunity official during the 1960s in middle and west Tennessee. She established the Greater Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce, and she and her late husband founded Perry and Perry Publishing Company, which has contributed a cultural voice to Tennessee through multiple magazines and newspapers.

Eastern Division

Joy Bishop: Bishop was the first career woman in the U.S. Air Force to be appointed to the senior executive service position, which is one of the highest ranking civilian positions at the Pentagon. She is a cancer survivor, community organizer, and inspirational speaker.

Carol Gardner Transou: Transou is a community activist, a 1987 Tennessee Teacher of the Year, and our state’s first teacher-scholar named by the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has authored curriculum on the Vietnam War and on women’s history. She is a founder of the Women’s Fund of East Tennessee and currently serves on both the Advisory Board and the Advocacy Committee.

Deceased

Lizzie Crozier French: French founded the Knoxville Female Institute and the School of Elocution to further the education of women in the late 1800s. Along with founding the Tennessee Suffrage Association, she became the first woman to address the Tennessee General Assembly lobbying on behalf of efforts to establish a separate prison for women and children in the state of Tennessee.

Elizabeth Rona: Before immigrating to the United States, Rona was the first woman to teach chemistry in any university in Hungary. Once in the U.S., she was on the frontlines of the discoveries of isotopes and fission, and later contributed to work in the Manhattan project. She later taught on theory and methods of nuclear physics at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies.

“The Economic Council is honored to highlight and preserve the contributions of these extraordinary women with hope that this recognition will inspire the communities in which they have served to continue to do great work for all citizens of Tennessee,” added Susanne Dupes, the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame chair.

Previous inductees into the Hall of Fame in were Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg, Becca Stevens and Inez Crutchfield, Shirley Raines, Dr. Wilsie S. Bishop, and Margaret Behm in 2013; Pat Summitt in 2011; Jane G. Eskind in 2010; and Martha Craig Daughtrey in 2009.

For information about the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and The TECW Economic Summit for Women visit www.tennesseewomen.org or contact the TECW at (615) 253-4266 or email [email protected].

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