Evelyn J. Fields

thumb|Evelyn Fields Evelyn J. Fields (born January 29, 1949) is a rear admiral, retired, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, who served as the director of the Commissioned Officer Corps and director of NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, from 1999 until her retirement in 2003. Fields was the first woman, and first African American to head the NOAA Corps. Quotes I have spent my career working very hard, I have spent the right time doing the right kinds of jobs and obviously have been in the right kind of assignments to put me in the position to be here. The fact that I’m female is nice; the fact that I’m black is nice, but I don’t think those were the reasons I was selected. she said in an interview with the Washington Post at the time she assumed the role of director Men think in terms of only men knowing how engines work, but once the engineers began to explain things to me, I could just see the amazement in their eyes when I was able to ask [intelligent] questions. Science organizations in the 1960s and '70s -- and the timeframe is a key part -- did not have a big female population, I can't tell you how many meetings I was the only female there. That's just how it was. But that was getting better by the time I left. Quotes Category:Women academics from the United States Category:Government officials Category:African Americans Category:People from Virginia Category:1949 births Category:Living people