Mary Lowe Good was a 1950 graduate of Arkansas State Teachers College, now the University of Central Arkansas, with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry. She earned a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Arkansas in 1953 and 1955, respectively.
Good was an internationally recognized chemist and materials scientist whose more than 50-year professional career has spanned academia, industry and government.
Good was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and re-appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 to serve on the National Science Board. President Bill Clinton appointed Good to serve as undersecretary for technology for the U.S. Department of Commerce, and President George Bush appointed her to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2001.
Good was appointed vice president and director of research for Universal Oil in 1980 and served in the industry until 1993, ending as vice president for technology at AlliedSignal.
Good was the founding dean of the Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Good served as president of the American Chemical Society and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was awarded the Priestley Medal and the Philip Hogue Abelson Prize from AAAS, as well as the Vannevar Bush Award from the National Science Foundation. Good was featured in “Women in Chemistry: Lessons from Life and the Laboratory,” which was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and created by the Chemical Heritage Foundation, now the Science History Institute. The film was part of a series following eight leading women in chemistry and celebrates the common element that catalyzed their journeys: a life-changing, chance-taking, thrill-seeking love of science.
She received more than 21 honorary degrees from colleges and universities, including the College of William and Mary, Polytechnic University of New York, Louisiana State University and Michigan State University.
Good was recognized by UCA as a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient in 1990.
The honorary Doctor of Science was conferred to Good on Feb. 9, 2007.