While teaching at Barnard in 1939, she was among the founders of American studies as an academic discipline and later authored the book, European Economic Reconstruction (1948).
During World War II, she worked for the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, analyzing dispatches from the French Resistance.
She brought to the University of Texas impressive academic credentials and internationally recognized expertise in the area of public policy.
She was initially drawn to Austin, Texas with her husband, Walt, by the research value of Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential papers.
She served as dean of both the LBJ School of Public Affairs and University of Texas' Division of General and Comparative Studies.