Women Who Have Made A Difference At Georgetown by Judith C. Areen

Women Who Have Made a Difference at Georgetown

“ . . . a godly young woman, and of special parts, who has fallen into a sad infirmity, and the loss of her understanding and reason, which had been growing upon her divers years, by occasion of her giving herself wholly to reading and writing, and written many books.” John Winthrop 1645

Overview of Higher Education for Women
1636 Harvard College founded
1789 Georgetown
1821 Troy Female Seminary
1855 Elmira College
1865 Vassar

Coeducation
1837 Oberlin
1855 Iowa
1863 Wisconsin
In 1870, 21 % of undergraduates were women
By 1940, 47% of undergraduates were women

Georgetown
1880 Two women enroll in the Medical Center: Jeannette Sumner & Annie Rice
1903 The Nursing School founded
7 students applied for admission
Sr. Geraldine, OSF, first Superintendent

During the late teens, Sophie Nordhoff-Jung was the first woman appointed to the medical faculty

1919 School of Foreign Service founded – student body was planned to be 150 men & 25 women. ( The women were special students – they did not become regular students until 1944.)
1930s – Women were admitted to the Dental Hygienist Program

The first woman to receive an Honorary Degree from Georgetown was philanthropist Mrs. Nicholas Brady in 1934. She was the President of the Girl Scouts of America.

In 1939, James Bryant Conant, the President of Harvard, was asked to speak at the fiftieth anniversary of Barnard. He replied: “ I have a good many doubts about education in general, but when it comes to the education of the fairer sex, I throw up my hands in complete despair and consternation. . . . it is very much like asking a Christian Scientist to speak at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of a medical school.”

Women students were first admitted to the graduate school during WWII.
In 1946, Anne S. Lawrence and Mary Alice Sheridan were the first women to graduate with a BSFS.
In 1949, women students were first admitted to the Language & Linguistics Program.

Georgetown proper was still so thought of as a male domain that when the University hired its first female telephone operator it made the Washington Times .

Sarah Stewart enrolled in the Medical School in 1944 as a special student. She became a full-time student in 1947 and graduated in 1949.

In 1948, Concepcion Aguila was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from Georgetown.

In 1951, women were first admitted to the Law Center
By 1952, women were admitted to all schools except the College.
Out of an enrollment of slightly more than 5,000 students, 409 (roughly 8%) were women.

Medical School class of 1951

Women Students at the Law Center
Summer 1951 Patricia Anna Collier enrolls at the law school.
In view of the success women have achieved in many professional fields including law, Georgetown Law School has decided to break with tradition and accept women applicants. The first woman to be enrolled in the eighty-one year history of the Law School is Patricia Anna Collier.
Res Ipsa Loquitur 11/1951

In the Fall 1951 she is joined by:
Renee G. Baum
Helen Marie Chambers
Mary Gertrude Henseler

Agnes Anne Neill
Katherine Rutherford Keener

Helen Elsie Steinbinder

1952 Agnes Neill was the first Beaudry Cup winner – also the first woman to do so.
1954 Ann Schafer became the first woman editor on the Georgetown Law Journal .
1969 Jo Gramling became the first woman editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal .
1976 Julianna Zekan was elected the first woman Student Bar Association President.

Women Students in the College
In 1969 the College began to admit women students. As The Hoya proclaimed:
Certain symbols of male exclusivity took awhile to change. One example is the “animal section”, a set of bleachers reserved for men in the center of McDonough Arena, from where fans shouted cheers during the basketball games. In 1969, any woman who entered the section would be removed, but over time women persisted and by 1974, the section was integrated.
By 1976, Georgetown was more than 50% female, with 2,642 women undergraduates enrolled.

From a 1968 edition of The Hoya

Mary Jo Bane became the first woman editor of the School of Foreign Service’s Courier in 1962 .
In 1972, Bernadette Savard became the first woman editor of the Hoya .
In 1977, Deborah Canty became the first woman president of the Student Government.

Miss G Goes to Georgetown
“ Personal pride is an inherent quality of the weaker sex and while clothing plays an important part in the college co-ed’s plans for college, it is well to remember that the ‘price’ wardrobe is not always the wardrobe that is appropriate and best suited for co-eds.” (1962)
(By 1971 this section was omitted and the guide contained only one reference to suitable attire. Shortly after there was only one guidebook for both men and women.)

When Darnall Hall opened in 1965, it was to be for women only. The hall is named for Elizabeth Darnall Carroll, mother of Archbishop Carroll and one of few women in colonial times to receive a formal education.

Darnall Hall was described in the Washington Post “as a streamlined facility where 336 Georgetown coeds can take beauty treatments, prepare snacks, or do laundry, as well as study and play. . .”

In 1969 Copley became the first coed dorm

Faculty & Curriculum Professor Valerie Earle

In 1955 Professor Earle joined the College Faculty, along with Ann Shearer in Math
Helped to found the Faculty Senate in 1967
1 st President of the Faculty Senate
In 1972 became Chair of the Government Dept.
Taught President DeGioia in his first year in the college

Valerie Earle on the Faculty Senate
“ It was a challenge to see what things might usefully be done.”
“ In rather short term, the administration decided this was not a body of wild eyed reformers.”
“ I came to know people I might never have known at all, including people at the Law and Medical campuses.”

1966 joined the faculty
1998-1999 Interim Provost
1999-2002 First Woman Provost
Dorothy Brown

1957 Helen Steinbinder became first woman to join the Law Center faculty
Helen Steinbinder

1980 Planning begins for a Women’s Studies Program at the University.
1983 The first course is held – Women’s Studies: An Introduction.
1987 The program is approved as a minor. Leona Fisher served as its first Director from 1987-1993, and remains active on its Advisory Board and in its curriculum.
1990s The program becomes available as a major.
Women’s Studies

1989 Judith Areen becomes first woman dean of the Law Center and Executive Vice President of the University
1998 Carolyn Robinowitz became first woman dean of the School of Medicine

1999 Jane McAuliffe becomes the
first woman dean of the College
1999 Judy Feder becomes the first
woman dean of the Institute of
Public Policy

Athletics
1952 Nathalie Paramskas (Mrs. P.) became Athletic Director and Field Hockey Coach at the School of Nursing. In 1974, she was named Assistant Athletic Director for the University.
“ Nathalie had an impact on women’s athletics at Georgetown, that is the foundation upon which women’s athletics will continue to develop.” - Georgetown’s Director of Athletics, Francis X. Rienzi

1956 Kathleen “Skippy” White became the first woman to earn a varsity letter (on the men’s sailing team)

1975 Patricia Thomas joins the Athletic Department.
1981 Two women are awarded full athletic scholarships: Christine Mullen for track and Abbie Dillon for basketball
1981 Mary Briese Matheron became the first woman to be the full time coach for the women’s basketball.

Women’s Basketball Team, c. 1973

By 1985, when Nathalie Paramskas retired, there were 7 women’s sports competing in the Big East Championships.

Administrative Milestones
Patricia Rueckel
1961-1969 1 st Woman Dean in College (Dean of Women)
1970-1977 1 st Woman Vice President (Vice President for Student Development)
At the time, it was the highest position ever held by a woman at a Jesuit institution of higher learning.

1945 Marie Stoll became the first woman Registrar at the Law Center. She also was the first woman to receive the University’s Vicennial Medal.

1973 Sr. Laetitia Blain, R.J.M., the first woman Chaplain

1973 Jayne Thomas Rich named the 1 st woman Chief of University Security (she previously had been the first black woman to achieve the ranks of corporal, sergeant, & lieutenant in the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department)

1969 Mary Switzer became the first woman member of the Board of Directors. She was the administrator of the Social and Rehabilitation Service for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. At the time, she had the largest administrative responsibility of any woman in the American government.

1972-1975 Rita Lenihan (G’45, G’54) and Elizabeth Glenn Sarpy were the first women members of the Board of Regents. Rita Lenihan commanded the Women’s Naval Forces (WAVES), and Elizabeth Sarpy was the Director of the DC Health and Welfare Council.

1974 Ginny Keeler became Secretary of the University.
1979 Adele Wells became the first woman Vice President of Alumni and University Relations.
1980 Rosemary Kilkenny was named Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action

Women’s Center
Initiated by students in 1990, the Georgetown Women’s Center (GUWC) began in a converted storage closet.
Now the Center has its own space in the Leavey Center.
After helping to organize the center as a student, Nancy Cantalupo served as its Director.

1993 Nicole Mandeville became the first woman Vice President and Treasurer of the University
1998 Linda Greenan becomes the Assistant Vice President for External Relations
1995 Ardoth Hassler becomes the CIO for the Main Campus and in 1998 is named Associate Vice President for University Information Services.

2000 Jane Genster becomes the first woman Vice President and General Counsel for the University
2001 Kathleen Maas Weigert becomes the Director of the Center for Social Justice.

2001 Lynn Conway appointed the first woman archivist for the University

2001 Theresa DeGioia becomes the first “first lady” of the University

Acknowledgement
Powerpoint show presented by Judith C. Areen,
Paul Regis Dean Professor of Law, during her
talk at the Riggs Library on Monday, March 24,
2003 in celebration of Women’s History Month.

http://jessicasturges31.blogspot.com	45
http://www.slideshare.net	7
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1
http://jessicasturges31.blogspot.com.es	1

Women Who Have Made A Difference At Georgetown by Judith C. Areen

by Dahlgren Memorial Library

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

4 Embeds 54

Statistics

Women Who Have Made A Difference At Georgetown by Judith C. Areen Presentation Transcript