When Azita Owlia, PhD ’84, traveled from her home of Tehran, Iran to visit family in Connecticut in 1978, she didn’t expect to stay – let alone to go on to earn a BS, MS and PhD in chemistry at UConn. But when the senior vice president at Bayer Material Science returned to Storrs this year for the first time in 23 years, her heart swelled with nostalgia for her former home. “It was such a homecoming for me,” Owlia said. “It’s been such a long time, but every time I hear people talk about UConn, I have such a sense of pride.” Owlia returned to UConn as the first recipient of the chemistry department’s Distinguished Alumni award, presented by her graduate adviser, Professor Jim Rusling. The award recognizes Owlia’s achievements in the field of chemistry and materials science, and also as a trailblazer: she is the first woman vice president at Bayer.

After earning her PhD, Owlia took a job as a chemist at Bayer in Houston, Texas, and earned a business degree in the evenings. Now, more than a decade later, she’s based in Hong Kong but spends most of her time traveling for the company, which conducts $50 billion in sales yearly. Although she admits that for much of her life she’s been a woman in a man’s world, Owlia has never seen her situation as having to do with gender. “I love diversity, and Bayer is very diverse. I take pride in that,” she says. “It’s not really about being male or female because everyone comes from such different backgrounds. And we naturally find areas of commonality with other people.” Owlia also spoke with chemistry graduate students during her visit and encouraged them to follow the advice that she always gives herself. “I tell students that they should be open-minded,” she says. “I didn’t have every step planned in my life. When you have an open mind, you expose yourself to things you never thought you’d find.”

-Article adapted from CLAS Today