All Entries in the "Milestones" Category
Tracie Hall Appointed Executive Director of the American Library Association
The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with approximately 57,000 members in academic, public, school, government, and special libraries. The association was founded 143 years ago. Traci Hall will be the first Black woman to lead the association.
Susan Darlington Named President of the Formerly All-Male Deep Springs College in California
The college admitted women in 2018 for the first time since its founding in 1917. The two-year college has a total of only about 30 students. This year women make up 54 percent of the student body. Dr. Darlingtonis currently a professor of anthropology and Asian studies and dean of the School of Critical Social Inquiry at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Graduates Its 10,000th Woman
Susan K. Rainey, who earned a Seminary Studies for Student Wives certificate, was the 10,000th female graduate from Southwestern Seminary in its 111-year history.
Alison Morrison-Shetlar Chosen as the First Woman President of the University of Lynchburg in Virginia
In 2014, Dr. Morrison-Shetlar became the provost at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Earlier in her career, she served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Elon University in North Carolina, vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies at the University of Central Florida, and director of faculty development at Georgia Southern University.
Svetlana Jitomirskaya Selected to Receive the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics
Svetlana Jitomirskaya, Distinguished Professor of mathematics at the University of California, Irvine, has been named the 2020 winner of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics. She is only the second woman to receive the annual prize – and the first to receive it alone, not jointly.
For the First Time in 140 Years, Women Serve as Members of the University of Notre Dame Fire Department
Founded in 1879, the Univerity of Notre Dame Fire Department is the first and oldest University fire department in the nation. Now, for the first time in this long history, there are women firefighters: Christi Shibata and Michelle Woolverton.
The First Woman Leprechaun Mascot in the History of the University of Notre Dame
In her application to become the leprechaun mascot at the University of Notre Dame, Wukie states “Who says the Fighting Irish can’t fight like a girl?”
For the First Time in History, Women Make Up the Majority of First-Year Law Students at the University of Alabama
This historic milestone at the University of Alabama mirrors a national trend. According to the American Bar Association, women have outnumbered men in law school classrooms across the country since 2016.
New Exhibit Honors the 50th Anniversary of Coeducation at Yale College
On December 22, 1783, Yale President Ezra Stiles interviewed 12-year-old Lucinda Foote and was impressed with her intellect. According to his diary, Stiles “found her well fitted to be admitted into the Freshman Class, if it were not for her sex.”
University of California, Santa Cruz Awards Its First Doctorates in Feminist Studies
The University of Califoria, Santa Cruz’s feminist studies program was established in 1974 and began its first graduate programs in 2013. Recently, Veronika Zablotsky and Erin McElroy became the the first two students to receive a Ph.D. in feminist studies at the university.
The First Woman to Lead George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia
Anne Holton served as Virginia Secretary of Education from 2014 to 2016. She has been a visiting professor in both the Schar School of Policy and Government and the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University since May 2017. Holton is the wife and the daughter of former governors of Virginia.
The First Woman President of the Tulsa Campus of Oklahoma State University
Dr. Pamela Fry has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at the Tulsa campus since 2016. She also serves as vice provost and associate vice president of undergraduate education at the flagship campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Earlier, Dr. Fry was dean of the university’s College of Education for six years.
The First Woman to Lead the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island
Rear Adminral Shoshana Chatfield served as a helicopter pilot in the Western Pacific, Afghanistan, and the Arabian Gulf. From 2001 to 2004, Dr. Chatfield was an assistant professor of political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Most recently, she was commander of U.S. Naval Forces in the Mariana Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean.
Liselle Joseph’s Milestone Achievement at Virginia Tech
Liselle Joseph was awarded a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. She is the first woman from an Eastern Caribbean nation to earn a Ph.D. in the field.
The First Woman Master of Jesus College at the University of Cambridge in England
Sonita Alleyne was recently appointed as master of Jesus College at the University of Cambridge in England. The title of master is the equivalent of dean in the United States. Alleyne will be the first woman and the first Black person to lead the college, which was established in 1496.
The First All-Women Senior Editorial Board at the Cornell Law Review
he Cornell Law Review has elected a senior editorial board made up entirely of women for the first time in the student-edited journal’s history. The new board also believes that this is the first all-female senior editorial board of a law journal at any of the top 14 law schools in the country.
Yale University Launches Web Application Highlighting Careers and Achievement of Women in STEM
Yale University has recently launched Science Stories, a linked-data, image-based web application highlighting the careers and achievements of women in STEM fields. Currently, Science Stories has archived nearly 600 profiles of women scientists.
University of Pennsylvania Surgeons Use a Surgical Robot During Breast Reconstruction Surgery
A team of surgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania recently were the first surgical team in the world to use a robot to assist with a bilateral free flap breast reconstruction. The procedure involves taking tissue from the lower abdomen and using it to rebuild the breast.
Donna Strickland Is the Third Woman to Earn the Nobel Prize in Physics
From 1964 to 2017, no woman was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. But this year, Donna Stickland, an associate professor of physics at the University of Waterloo in Canada is sharing the prize with two men. She is the third woman in the 117-year history of the Nobel Prize in physics to win the award.
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire Hires a Woman Football Coach
Callie Brownson has been named the offensive quality control coach for the Dartmouth College football team. With this appointment, she becomes the first full-time, woman football coach at the Division I level.
The College of William & Mary in Virginia Celebrates 100 Years of Co-Education
In the fall of 1918, 24 women were admitted as undergraduate students to the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. This made William & Mary the first public university in the Commonwealth of Virginia to allow the enrollment of women.
The University of Georgia Celebrates Its Centennial of Women’s Higher Education
After the United States became involved in World War I, there was a lack of trained professionals in the state of Georgia. Meeting the demand, in 1918, the university began to allow women admittance to the College of Agriculture in the home economics program.
Duke University Scholar Heading Home to Pakistan to Take a Milestone Appointment
Dr. Zainab Samad, who has been an associate professor of internal medicine at Duke University, will be the first woman, the first graduate of the medical school, and the youngest chair in the history of the department of medicine at Aga Khan University in Pakistan.
Brandy Gunsolus Is the First Holder of a Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Science Degree
Rutgers University launched the new degree program in 2014 to address an ongoing need for greater accuracy and cost efficiency in laboratory testing. It is the first doctoral program in the field at any university in the nation and Dr. Gunsolus is its first graduate.
Martha Burger Will Be the First Woman President of Oklahoma City University
Burger is the former senior vice president of human and corporate resources at Chesapeake Energy Corporation and is the co-founder of Amethyst Investments. She has served on the university’s board of trustees since 2008 and had chaired the audit and finance committees.
A Milestone Honor for Julie Fairman of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Julie Fairman, the Nightingale Professor in honor of Nursing Veterans and chair of the department of biobehavioral health sciences at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, is the first nurse to be selected to give the Garrison Lecture before the annual convention of the American Association for the History of Medicine.
Lily McNair Will Be the First Woman President of Tuskegee University in Alabama
Dr. McNair has been serving as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Wagner College on Staten Island in New York City. Before becoming provost in 2011, Dr. McNair was associate provost for research and a professor of psychology at Spelman College in Atlanta.
College of William and Mary to Honor Its First Women Students
The marble plaque will contain the names of 24 women who enrolled at the college in 1918. At that time, the College of William and Mary became the first state-operated university in Virginia to admit women.
Janet Levit Will Be the First Woman Provost at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma
Since January 2017, Professor Levit has served as vice president for strategic initiatives at the University of Tulsa. Previously, she was dean of College of Law at the university. She was the first woman to serve in that position.
The First Woman President of California State University, Bakersfield
Dr. Lynnette Zelezny currently serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fresno State University in California. She has served in that role since 2014. Dr. Zelezny joined the psychology department faculty at Fresno State in 1988.
The First Woman to Lead the South Carolina Corps of Cadets at the Citadel
The Citadel: The Military College of South Carolina, admitted its first group of students in 1843. No women were allowed to enroll until 1995. Now, for the first time, the leader of the corps of cadets is a woman.
The First All-Woman Class at the Cornell University Farrier Program
The Cornell Farrier Program was founded in 1914. It trains its students in the practice of horse shoeing as part of Cornell’s land grant mission. The program did not admit its first woman student until 1972.
The First Woman President of Peirce College in Philadelphia
Mary Ellen Caro has been serving as vice president of enrollment management at Thomas Edison State University in Trenton, New Jersey. She has served on the staff there since 2004. When Dr. Caro takes office, she will be the first woman to serve as president in the 153-year history of Peirce College.
Lorraine Sterritt to Be the First Woman President of Saint Michael’s College in Vermont
Since June 2014, Dr. Sterritt has served as president of Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Earlier, she served as dean for administration and as a professor of French literature at Harvard College. A native of Ireland, Dr. Sterritt holds a Ph.D. in French from Princeton University.
Ruth V. Watkins Selected as the Next President of the University of Utah
When she takes office this spring, Dr. Watkins will be the first woman to serve as the permanent president of the University of Utah in its 168-year history. Since 2013, Dr. Watkins has served as the senior vice president for academic affairs at the university after a 20-year career at the University of Illinois.
