In this interview Heath discusses her family and her childhood; how she reached her chosen career path; obstacles to her advancement because of her gender; studying at American University and at Syracuse University; myths of the “male chauvinists’ world”; taking a women’s studies course; working while in school; running a cost of living survey for the Department of Labor in Rochester, NY, and then in Richmond, VA; the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration; working with the disadvantaged during the Depression; the “great American dream”; the effectiveness of institutionalization and the rise in bureaucracy; the National Association of Deans of Women; stigmas attached to higher education; the Civil Service Commission; working during World War II with various organizations, including the Norden Company in Elmira, NY, at the bombsight plant and the United States Army; the attitude towards women in war work; and writing her dissertation and getting her doctorate, among other issues.