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.

The original exhibit was supported by a grant from the Flora Stone Mather Alumnae Association. The exhibit was revised in November, 2007 and April 2017.

		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.
Nancy Elizabeth Talbot Clark was the first woman to graduate from Western Reserve's nine-year-old medical school.		1852
		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.
Fifty years after its establishment, Viola Smith Buell became the first woman to graduate from Western Reserve College.		1876
		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.
Laura Kerr Axtell was the first woman to endow a Case School of Applied Science professorship.		1885
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.		1888
Eliza Hardy Lord, Dean of the College for Women (1888-1892) was Western Reserve University's first woman faculty member and first woman dean.
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.
Mary Louisa French was the first graduate of the College for Women.		1891	Brown adopted the coordinate system, establishing Pembroke as its women’s college.
		1892	From its establishment, the University of Chicago admitted women and men.
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.		1895
Aida Louise Smith was the first documented woman hired by Case School of Applied Science.		1896
Louisa F. Randolph became the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Western Reserve University.		1898	First Phi Beta Kappa chapter at a woman’s college was established at Vassar College.
Lucy Gertrude Hoffman was the first woman Western Reserve University Dental School graduate, eighteen years after the School's establishment.		1910	58% of American colleges were coeducational, 15% were women only, 27% were men only.
Four years after the Cleveland School of Pharmacy affiliated with Western Reserve University, Birdie Rehmer became its first woman graduate.		1912
		1920	Women represented over 47% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.
Hannah Mirsky was the first woman graduate of Western Reserve University's thirty-year-old Law School.		1921
The School of Nursing became Western Reserve University's second school to open with a woman dean, Carolyn E. Gray (1923-1924).		1923
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.		1928
		1930	69% of American colleges were coeducational, 16% were women only, 15% were men only.
Olive Baxter Stevens was the first woman to graduate from the School of Architecture, six years after its affiliation with Western Reserve University.		1935
Irene Levis was the first woman appointed to the Case School of Applied Science faculty.		1938
Laura Diehl was the first woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Case School of Applied Science, a B.S. in Physics.		1945
Jo Godley was the first woman to win the Case Honor Key, awarded for outstanding achievement in extracurricular activities.		1948
Claire Doran was the first woman to receive a varsity "R" sweater from Western Reserve University.		1949
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.		1950	Women represented 30% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.
Millicent C. McIntosh was the only woman to receive an honorary degree from Case Institute of Technology.		1955
Mary Carolyn Neff was the first woman corporate officer of Western Reserve University.		1959
First peacetime admission of women to Case Institute of Technology's undergraduate program.
Mei-Mei Wang was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from Case Institute of Technology.		1960
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.		1964
Volleyball became the first documented Case Western Reserve University women's varsity sport.		1971
Nancy Gray was Case Western Reserve University's first woman varsity head coach.
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.		1972	Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 was enacted, prohibiting sex discrimination in federally assisted educational programs.
Kathleen M. Logan became the first woman elected Case senior class president.		1973
Marie Haug was the first woman chair of the Case Western Reserve University Faculty Senate, established in 1970.		1976
		1977	The first women Rhodes Scholars were elected.
Lucille S. Mayne was Case Western Reserve University's first woman Dean of the School of Graduate Studies (1980-1984).		1980	Women represented nearly 52% of all students enrolled in American higher education institutions.
Patricia B. Kilpatrick was the first woman vice president of Case Western Reserve University.		1987
Karen N. Horn was the first woman chair of the Case Western Reserve University Board of Trustees (1992-1995).		1992
Barbara Snyder was elected the first woman president of Case Western Reserve University. Her tenure as president began July 1, 2007.		2006
Pamela Davis was appointed Case Western Reserve University's first woman dean of the School of Medicine.
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.		2013

Additional information about the schools of Case Western Reserve University can be found at http://www.case.edu/its/archives/Units/schools.htm

The research for this exhibit was conducted by staff of the University Archives from the following sources:

Barnard College. "Barnard Interactive History" n.d. http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/barnard/ (30 November 2007)

Daniels, Elizabeth. "Vassar History, 1891-1904" 1999 http://faculty.vassar.edu/daniels/1891_1904.html (30 November 2007)

Goldstein, Linda Lehmann. "Roses Bloomed in Winter: Women Medical Graduates of Western Reserve College, 1852-1856." PhD. diss., Case Western Reserve University, 1989

Mitchell, Martha. "Encyclopedia Brunoniana" 1993 http://www.brown.edu (30 November 2007)

Oberlin College. "Course Catalog" 2004 http://www.oberlin.edu/catalog/geninfo.html (30 November 2007)

Pinches, Mary Frances. "Firsts at Case, 1974" TMs, University Archives, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland

Radcliffe College. "Significant Dates in Radcliffe's History" 2004 http://www.radcliffe.edu/about/dates.aspx (30 November 2007)

Solomon, Barbara Miller. In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985)

University of Iowa. "About Iowa" 2003 http://uiowa.edu/homepage/about_UI/index.html (30 November 2007)

Waite, Frederick Clayton. Western Reserve University: Centennial History of the School of Medicine. (Cleveland: Western Reserve University Press, 1946)

Waite, Frederick Clayton. "Western Reserve University: History of the First Forty Years of the Cleveland Era, 1881-1921, 1954" TMs, University Archives, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland

Waite, Frederick Clayton. Western Reserve University - The Hudson Era: A History of Western Reserve College and Academy at Hudson, Ohio, from 1826 to 1882. (Cleveland: Western Reserve University Press, 1943)

Records in the University Archives, including Alumni Directories, Annual Reports, Catalogs, Commencement Programs, Trustee Minutes, and Yearbooks of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University.

We welcome identification of additional pioneering CWRU women by contacting the University Archives.