As Case Western Reserve’s bicentennial approaches, the university community reflects on nearly 200 years of innovation and ingenuity. This Women’s History Month, the Alumni Association is proud to recognize just a few of the alumnae and friends who have paved the way as the “first” in their fields and helped shape CWRU and its reputation for excellence.
1852 – Nancy Talbot Clark (MED 1852) became the first woman at Western Reserve College—and the second woman in the United States—to earn a medical degree.
1919 – Margaret H. Johnson (SAS 1919) received the first master of science in social administration degree from what is now the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at CWRU, and in 1950, became the school’s first woman dean.
1960 – Mei-Mei Wang (CIT ’60) became the first woman to earn a doctoral degree from Case Institute of Technology.
1967 – Regenia A. Perry (GRS ’62, ’67, art history) became the first Black woman to receive a PhD in art history, and in 1975, she broke barriers as the first Black guest curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
1971– Nancy Gray became Case Western Reserve’s first woman varsity head coach. She served the university for 32 years as an associate professor of physical education, tennis coach, soccer coach, associate athletic director and coordinator of physical education.
1987 – Patricia B. Kilpatrick (FSM '49; GRS '51, physical education) became the first woman vice president of Case Western Reserve. She previously served as dean of Flora Stone Mather College for Women and held a number of prominent administrative positions over her decades of service to the university.
1991 – Jeanette Grasselli Brown (GRS ’58, chemistry; HON ’95) became the first woman inducted into the Ohio Science and Technology Hall of Fame. Among many other accolades, the renowned analytical chemist received the 2025 PittCon Heritage Award from the Science History Institute for her contributions to the development of spectroscopy. During her career at Standard Oil of Ohio (now BP America), she became the first woman to serve as director of corporate research, and the only woman at the director level at the time of her appointment.
1998 – Stephanie Tubbs Jones (FSM ’71, LAW ’74) became the first African American woman from Ohio to be elected to U.S. Congress. But it wasn’t her first time breaking barriers: The Cleveland native had already made history in 1991 as the first African American prosecutor in Ohio, and during her tenure, she was the only Black woman to serve as prosecutor in any major American city.
2002 – Julie Gerberding (WRC ’77, MED ’81) became the first woman to direct the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, overseeing a $10 billion budget with a workforce of 15,000 people in more than 45 countries. The renowned infectious diseases specialist is now chief executive officer of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and beginning in June, she will chair CWRU’s Board of Trustees for a four-year term.
2007 – Barbara R. Snyder became the first woman president of Case Western Reserve. During her tenure, she led a major capital campaign, which raised $1.82 billion and supported 11 new buildings and renovation projects, including the Tinkham Veale University Center, the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box], the Frank N. and Jocelyn K. Linsalata Alumni Center, the Health Education Campus and the Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center at Temple – Tifereth Israel. Snyder stepped down as CWRU president in the fall of 2020 to serve as president of the Association of American Universities.
2021 – Bianca Smith (MGT '17, LAW '17) was hired by the Boston Red Sox as a minor league coach, making her the first Black woman in the history of Major League Baseball to hold an on-field coaching position. But that wasn’t her first “first.” She was already blazing trails as a student when she became the first director of baseball operations for CWRU's Spartan baseball team.
2023 – Tori Penso (MGT ’15) not only became the first U.S. referee to work a World Cup Final, she also became the first full-time woman referee in Major League Soccer and the first woman in two decades to referee in that league.
Read about more of CWRU’s “first women” from University Archives and explore Case Western Reserve’s bicentennial website to dive into the university’s rich history.