Margaret Menzel

In 1944, Menzel graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern University in Texas where she majored in biology and English. Following this, she taught for a year at Lamar University before beginning her Ph.D. with Orland Emile White at the University of Virginia working on the genetics of Physalis, a type of flowering plant.^[2] Following her Ph.D. she held multiple positions including periods at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and the United States Department of Agriculture.^[1] She moved to Florida State University and was promoted to professor in 1968.^[3] She retired as professor emeritus.^[when?][4]

Menzel was actively involved in the Association of Southeastern Biologists, including periods as vice president and editor of the ASB Bulletin from 1972 until 1977.^[5][6]

Menzel was known for her research on chromosomes, meiosis, and genetic relationships between organisms. She conducted this research on a broad array of species including plants such as Physalis^[7] and Hibiscus,^[8][9] the nematode Schistosoma,^[10][11] and agricultural crops such as tomatoes.^[12] Her work with Meta Brown on cotton plants centered on cotton cytogenetics and translocated chromosomes.^[13][14] Plants she collected during a 1960 sampling expedition to the Florida Panhandle remain in the herbarium at Florida State.^[15]

Menzel was an advocate for women's rights as she supported equal pay for women^[16] and was involved in the formation of the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women.^[1]

In June 1972, a class action lawsuit (Margaret Menzel v. Florida State University et al. Docket No. TCA 1834) was filed in United States District Court, Northern District of Florida^[17] and Menzel's case is one of the cases cited as a key part of extending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Menzel's complaint centered on discrimination in pay and promotion; she was joined by nine other women working at Florida State University.^[18] At the time of the class action suit it was the first case where female professors used a court action to demand equal pay and status; one of the arguments was that sex discrimination began when men took over the administration of what had been Florida State College For Women^[19] when it admitted men and became Florida State University in 1947.^[20] A federal judge did not agree to back pay in 1973.^[21] In 1975, the case was settled with an agreement that Florida State would establish a task force to investigate bias against women at the university and to revise its anti-nepotism policy so as to not discriminate against the wives of university employees.^[22] Menzel later served as a witness for Laura Jepsen in her successful 1976 suit against Florida State University for gender discrimination.^[23]

• Menzel, Margaret Young (1951). "The Cytotaxonomy and Genetics of Physalis". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 95 (2): 132–183. ISSN 0003-049X. JSTOR 3143331.
• Short, Robert B.; Menzel, Margaret Y. (June 1960). "Chromosomes of Nine Species of Schistosomes". The Journal of Parasitology. 46 (3): 273–287. doi:10.2307/3275488. JSTOR 3275488. PMID 14446186.
• Wilson, F. D.; Menzel, M. Y. (1964). "Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)". Economic Botany. 18 (1): 80–91. doi:10.1007/BF02904005. ISSN 0013-0001. S2CID 186234283.
• Menzel, Margaret Y. (July 1962). "Pachytene Chromosomes of the Intergeneric Hybrid Lycopersicon Esculentum x Solanum lycopersicoides". American Journal of Botany. 49 (6): 605–615. doi:10.2307/2439718. JSTOR 2439718.
• Menzel, Margaret Y.; Price, J. M. (November 1966). "Fine Structure of Synapsed Chomosomes in F Lycopersicon esculentum- Solanum lycopersicoides and Its Parents". American Journal of Botany. 53 (10): 1079. doi:10.2307/2440688. JSTOR 2440688.

She received the Senior Research Award from the Association of Southeastern Biologists in 1950 and the Meritorious Teaching Award from the association in 1985.^[1][5] In 1988 the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida State University established the Margaret Y. Menzel Scholarship to recognize outstanding progress in graduate student research.^[24] Since 1989 the Botanical Society of America has awarded the Margaret Menzel Award each year for an outstanding paper presented at their annual meeting.^[25] In 2000, Florida State University began a program allowing faculty with named professorships to select the name used and in 2002, Walter R. Tschinkel opted to honor Menzel by becoming the "Margaret Menzel Professor of Biological Science".^[26]