My Story: A Case for DEI

Special Message by Kowetha Davidson Mack

In 2025, I celebrated my 80th birthday. I grew up in a small rural community in northeast Texas, called Hooks. I was born and reared in the Jim Crow south. I went to school in the Jim Crow south. What does that mean? Segregated school where all the black kids attended the black school and the white kids attended the white school about 4 miles away. We had no kindergarten class; therefore, we only had grades one through twelve. A segregated school also meant we got the hand-me-downs. If you have older siblings of the same sex, then you know what hand-me-downs mean. You got what the others no longer needed or did not want. Yes! We got the old school books when the white kids got new books. Our books always had someone else’s name in them. I do not remember how often the white kids got new books, but we were always behind. This was the way of life in Jim Crow south.

I had a strong desire to learn as I was growing up. Our teachers did a fantastic job with the equipment they had to work with. Of course, we did not have all the essential courses. For example, high school math stopped at geometry; we had no chemistry classes, no laboratory for our biology class. I was valedictorian of my class and matriculated at Prairie View A&M University ((PVAMU) College at that time) in 1963. PVAMU is one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). I majored in Pre-Medicine with a minor in Chemistry. At the time I aspired to become a physician; however, my aspiration changed during my tenue at PVAMU. PVAMU is known for preparing students for entering the medical field.

Not knowing how I really wanted to use my degree, I took education classes preparing to become a teacher; although teaching was not high on my list of career choices. One day my senior advisor gave me a graduate school application for the University of Colorado, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB). I completed the application, sent it in, and was accepted into the department after traveling to Boulder, CO for an interview. My acceptance into this department had everything to do with affirmative action. I received a graduate school fellowship from the university. After one year in the department, I received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Grant specifically for minority students. Without affirmative action and the minority training grant, I would not be where I am today, retired toxicologist certified by the American Board of Toxicology (ABT) for 25 years and a retired member of the Society of Toxicology.

I completed my Ph. D. graduate work at the University of Tennessee, Department of Zoology, with research in developmental biology, after which, I received a post-doctoral fellowship and later a staff position in the Biology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where I conducted work in chemical and radiation carcinogenesis. After receiving a pink slip, which terminated my position in the Biology Division, I got a job in Information Sciences at the X-10 site. During this time my section changed names and divisions several times from 1985 to 2005 when I retired from ORNL. During this time, I conducted research via published scientific articles focusing on human health risk assessments of hazardous chemicals. Through Interagency Agreements with the Department of Energy, this work involved the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency (various offices within EPA, including the Office Pesticide Program, National Center for Environmental Assessment), Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1990, I sat for the ABT certification examine and was certified as a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT) until 2015 following my second retirement. I continued to work as a consultant in toxicology until May 2014.

I achieved a high level of expertise in toxicology as demonstrated by my ABT certification, and work with the various federal agencies conducting human health hazardous risk assessments for more than 25 years. Had it not been for affirmative action now called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) I would never have achieved this level of expertise. My expertise did not mean that any white male received less because I achieved more. My achievements came because I took advantage of the opportunities afforded me. No one should be denied opportunity to achieve, because of race, creed, religion, or color. Who knows the advances the U.S. have missed out on because of the refusal to adequately educate all its citizens. Every person should be provided the tools and opportunities to achieve their maximum level of expertise and use that expertise for the betterment of humankind.