In this interview, Rose discusses the reasons she attended college; her graduate studies and career in bacteriology; Deans Morriss and Mooar; Magel Wilder, her sole female professor at Brown; sex and dating; attending Pembroke as a "city girl"; life during the Depression; and her work with Planned Parenthood.

In Part 1 of this interview, Elissa discusses her enthusiasm for college life, having entered Pembroke after her junior year of high school. She describes the social expectations of the time and how they began to change; her experience applying to medical schools as one of few female pre-med students; her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement; the creation of the Pembroke Pandas, the first college women's ice hockey team; and Posture Pictures.