When I entered the workforce, at age 27, my goal was to shape environmental quality and protection in a relatively new country, Israel. My background-a bachelor's degree in political economy of natural resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in urban and regional planning from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology-led to positions first in government and then at an environmental non-governmental organization. My work was meaningful and influential, and it supported my husband's studies: He had just finished military service and had no family financial backing. I hoped I would get a chance to go back to school when he finished.