High Noon – February program, Breaking the Barnyard Barrier: A Woman Veterinarian Paves the Way (Virtual Zoom)

High Noon February 18, 2027 Noon Register for this Lecture: Title: Breaking the Barnyard Barrier: A Woman Veterinarian Paves the Way Speaker: Dr. Linda Rhodes, retired veterinarian Talk Summary: In the late 1970s, the golden valley between Utah’s Wasatch Mountains was home to some of the best dairies in the country. That was also where Linda Rhodes, a newly minted large animal veterinarian, had to prove that a woman could do what the Mormon dairymen were sure was a man’s job. She was often scared that they were right. Throughout her experience, she tackled a menagerie of challenging medical and surgical cases that forced her to be fearless. Every bovine life she saved helped her confidence grow, but each failure left her feeling defeated—as did the mounting tensions between pursuing a demanding career and saving a crumbling marriage. In Breaking the Barnyard Barrier, Linda Rhodes tells the story of how a woman, through grit and tears, made her way in a man’s world and blazed a path that prevailed against career stereotypes. This book was published by the University of Nevada Press. Linda Rhodes, author Speaker Bio: Linda Rhodes began her career as a dairy cow veterinarian after she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania summa cum laude in 1978. After several years in dairy practice, she was granted a fellowship at Cornell University, where she obtained her PhD in 1988. The rest of her career was spent in the pharmaceutical industry, helping to develop medicines for many species of animals. She retired in 2016 and has subsequently served on several corporate and start-up boards in the animal health industry. She has received the Iron Paw Award for her lifetime achievements. Breaking the Barnyard Barrier is her first book.