Rona Katz was born into a
Jewish American family in 1932 and attended Spalding High School for Crippled Children in
Chicago. She studied for her undergraduate degree at
Lake Forest College; masters at
Loyola University Chicago; and Ph.D. at the
University of Southern California. In 1972, Fields was hired by
Clark University, Massachusetts as a full-time associate professor. After being denied
tenure in 1976, Fields filed charges with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, alleging
sexual harassment and that an associate professor who had just been awarded tenure made sexual advances toward her, and when she rejected them, he warned that her refusal "was no way to get tenure." The resulting case,
Fields v. Clark University, resulted in her being reinstated for a two-year probationary period and then reconsidered for tenure, and awarded back pay, attorney's fees, and costs. Fields later taught at
San Fernando Valley State College,
Howard University,
George Mason University and
George Washington University. ==Personal life==