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Case Western Reserve University Archives

Pioneers: CWRU's First Women

In 2003 women represented 44% of the Case Western Reserve University student population and 31% of its faculty. One hundred years earlier, women were 20% of the combined Case School of Applied Science and Western Reserve University student population and 9% of the faculty. Many factors contributed to reducing obstacles to educational opportunities for women. Not least among these factors were the courage and tenacity of the women who broke each barrier. This exhibit is to remember and honor their achievements.

[Exlpore achievements by date]

1833
Oberlin College opened - the first American college to grant undergraduate degrees to women.
            
1849
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree from a regular American medical school, Geneva Medical College.
 
1852
Nancy Elizabeth Talbot Clark was the first woman to graduate from Western Reserve's nine-year-old medical school.

1855
University of Iowa became the first state university to admit male and female students on an equal basis from its opening.

1870
University of Cincinnati was founded as a coeducational municipal university.
29% of American colleges were coeducational, 12% were women only, 59% were men only.
Women represented 21% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.
Ada Kepley became the first woman in the U.S. to receive a law degree, from Union College of Law.

1876

Fifty years after its establishment, Viola Smith Buell became the first woman to graduate from Western Reserve College.

1877
Helen Magill White was the first woman awarded the Ph.D. by an American university, Boston University.

1879
Harvard “Annex” opened for women’s instruction by Harvard faculty. In 1894 it was chartered as Radcliffe College.

1885
[1132]
Laura Kerr Axtell was the first woman to endow a Case School of Applied Science professorship.

1888
Western Reserve University ended undergraduate co-education and adopted the coordinate system, establishing the College for Women, later Flora Stone Mather College, as its women's college.

Eliza Hardy Lord, Dean of the College for Women (1888-1892) was Western Reserve University's first woman faculty member and first woman dean.     
Eliza Hardy Lord
          

Maude Kimball was the first student of the Western Reserve University College for Women.

1889
Columbia trustees approved the founding of Barnard College, Columbia’s “female annex.”

1890
43% of American colleges were coeducational, 20% were women only, 37% were men only.

Women represented just under 36% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.

1891
Brown adopted the coordinate system, establishing Pembroke as its women’s college.

[2296] Mary Louisa French was the first graduate of the College for Women.

1892
From its establishment, the University of Chicago admitted women and men.

1895
Mary Chilton Noyes was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from Western Reserve University when its three-year-old Department of Graduate Instruction awarded its first Ph.D. degrees.

1896
[W00166]Aida Louise Smith was the first documented woman hired by Case School of Applied Science.

1898
First Phi Beta Kappa chapter at a woman’s college was established at Vassar College.

Louisa F. Randolph became the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Western Reserve University.

1910
58% of American colleges were coeducational, 15% were women only, 27% were men only.


Lucy Gertrude Hoffman was the first woman Western Reserve University Dental School graduate, eighteen years after the School's establishment.


1912

Four years after the Cleveland School of Pharmacy affiliated with Western Reserve University, Birdie Rehmer became its first woman graduate.

1920
Women represented over 47% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.

1921
[758]
Hannah Mirsky was the first woman graduate of Western Reserve University's thirty-year-old Law School

1923

The School of Nursing became Western Reserve University's second school to open with a woman dean, Carolyn E. Gray (1923-1924).

1928
Forty-eight years after its establishment, Case School of Applied Science graduated its first woman, Edith Paula Chartkoff. She received an M.S. in Metallurgy.


1930
69% of American colleges were coeducational, 16% were women only, 15% were men only.

1935
Olive Baxter Stevens was the first woman to graduate from the School of Architecture, six years after its affiliation with Western Reserve University.

1938
[423]
Irene Levis was the first woman appointed to the Case School of Applied Science faculty.

1945

Laura Diehl was the first woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Case School of Applied Science, a B.S. in Physics.

1948

Jo Godley was the first woman to win the Case Honor Key, awarded for outstanding achievement in extracurricular activities.

1949
[2588]
Claire Doran was the first woman to receive a varsity "R" sweater from Western Reserve University.



1950
[416]
Margaret H. Johnson was the first woman Dean (1950-1958) of Western Reserve University's School of Applied Social Sciences, thirty-five years after its establishment. She also received the first Master of Science in Social Administration awarded by SASS, in 1919.

Women represented 30% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.

1955
[429]
Millicent C. McIntosh was the only woman to receive an honorary degree from Case Institute of Technology.

1959
[3133]
Mary Carolyn Neff was the first woman corporate officer of Western Reserve University.

1960

Mei-Mei Wang was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from Case Institute of Technology.

1964
[418]
Mary Frances Pinches was the first woman to receive the Case Achievement Award, recognizing exceptional service by a member of the Case Institute of Technology faculty or staff.

1971
[432]
Volleyball became the first documented Case Western Reserve University women's varsity sport.

[174]
Nancy Gray was Case Western Reserve University's first woman varsity head coach.

1972
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 was enacted, prohibiting sex discrimination in federally assisted educational programs.

First time a separate team from Mather College was allowed to run in the Hudson Relay, established in 1910, to commemorate Western Reserve College's move from Hudson to Cleveland.

1973

Kathleen M. Logan became the first woman elected Case senior class president.

1976

Marie Haug was the first woman chair of the Case Western Reserve University Faculty Senate, established in 1970.

1977
The first women Rhodes Scholars were elected.

1980
Women represented nearly 52% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.

[427]
Lucille S. Mayne was Case Western Reserve University's first woman Dean of the School of Graduate Studies (1980-1984).

1987
[2243]Patricia B. Kilpatrick was the first woman vice president of Case Western Reserve University.

1992
[415]Karen N. Horn was the first woman chair of the Case Western Reserve University Board of Trustees (1992-1995).

2006
W00159 Barbara Snyder was elected the first woman president of Case Western Reserve University. Her tenure as president began July 1, 2007.

[2460]Pamela Davis was appointed Case Western Reserve University's first woman dean of the School of Medicine.

2013
W00167  Jessica W. Berg was appointed Case Western Reserve University's first woman dean of the School of Law. She and Michael P. Scharf became interim co-deans in 2013. In 2015 they were appointed as co-deans.