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Timelines and Chronologies

​​​​​​This guide is designed as a resource for timelines and chronologies of college history, including information about athletics, campus buildings, diversity, coeducation, and more. Archives, Special Collections & Community.

Active and Benevolent Ladies: A Short History of Women at Davidson College

A history of women's involvement at Davidson College, with embedded primary sources and a chronology. Topics including co-education, involvement in athletics, and "firsts" as students, faculty, and staff. 

Listed below are "firsts" from women at Davidson, including the first time a woman was hired in an academic department, served in a campus position, etc. To view more of this history, please visit our exhibit Active and Benevolent Ladies: A Short History of Women at Davidson College.

 1907

Cornelia Shaw: First to serve as a Davidson College Administrator, College Librarian, and the Registrar

 

 1956

Caroline MacBrayer: First to become a regular, full-time faculty member; First member of the Psychology faculty

 

 1961

Bonnie Cone: First to receive an honorary doctorate from Davidson

 

 1964

C. Louise Nelson: First member of the Economics faculty

 

 1970

Geraldine A. Dwyer: First member of the Sociology faculty

 

 1972

Cynthia Grant: First member of the Biology faculty

Lois Kemp: First member of the Spanish faculty; First to head an academic department (Spanish)

Vicki Switzer '74: First to enroll after the Trustees' decision for full coeducation

 

 1973

Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans: First elected trustee

Marianna Boaz ("Missy") Woodward '73: First to receive a degree

Georgiana Ziegler: First member of the English faculty

 

 1974

Tracy Charles '74: First to letter in a varsity sport

Tonia K. Devon: First member of the Political Science faculty

 

 1974-1975

Susan Martin Parker '75: First to serve as full-time coach of a varsity team

 

 1975

Elizabeth Banes: First member of the Physics faculty

Elizabeth Chesney: First member of the French faculty

C. Louise Nelson: First to become a Full Professor

Susan Martin Parker: First to become Valedictorian

 

 1976

Mary Farmer '76: First to go on to medical school after Davidson College.

Karen Husted Synder '76: First to be admitted as a freshman (being related to a faculty member) and first to graduate after having spent four years at Davidson College

 

 1977

Kat Morton Achtemeier '77: First awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award

Renee Denise Fanuiel Blackwell '77: First woman commissioned through ROTC

Rebecca E. Stimson '77: First to receive the Rebecca E. Stimson (Athletic) Award

 

 1977-1978

Rusk Eating House: First all women's eating house established

 

 1978

Catherine Landis Henschen '78: First to edit The Davidsonian

 

 1979

Laurie Bingaman Lackey '79: First awarded a Watson Fellowship

Melinda Lesher: First member of the Art faculty

 

 1980

Pamela Camerra-Rowe '80: First awarded a Fulbright Scholarship

Meg Campbell, Meredith Durden, Mary Hay, Mary Chester Morgan, and Jamie Watt: First women to be elected to the Honor Council (then known as the Hearing Committee)

Cynthia A. Curtis '80: First to receive the Susan K. Roberts (Athletic) Award

Sarah Womack Parham '80: First to have her jersey retired

 

 1981

Anne R. Elliot: First elected president of the Black Student Coalition

 

 1982

Emily Knobloch '82: First All-American athlete

Esther Wruck: First member of the German faculty

S. Sherburne Laughlin '83: First elected Senior Class President

 

 1983

Susan Keefe: First member of the History faculty

Elizabeth E. Kiss '83: First chosen as a Rhodes Scholar

Rosemary Zumwalt: First member of the Anthropology faculty

 

 1984

Ruth Freitag: First member of the Chemistry faculty

 

 1985-1986

Lillian Grace "Beadsie" Woo '86: First elected SGA President

 

 1986

Carolann Connor Willingham: First elected president of the Alumni Association

 

 1988

Yvonne Kendall: First member of the Music faculty

Bonnie Marshall: First member of the Russian faculty

Rosemarie Tong: First member of the Philosophy faculty

Rosemary Zumwalt: First elected faculty vice-chair pro tem

 

 1990

Lynn Poland: First member of the Religion faculty

 

 1992

Maurya MacNeil '87: First alumna to become a regular, full-time faculty member

Donna Molinek: First member of the Mathematics faculty

Nancy Cable Wells: First to serve as Dean of Admission and Financial Aid

Class of 1996 women outnumber men in the class

 

 1994

Ann Marie Costa: First member of the Theatre faculty

Jeanne Neumann: First member of the Classics faculty

 

 2000-2001

Nancy Cable and Kristen Hills Bradberry: First women to become Vice-Presidents.

 

 2011

Carol E. Quillen: First female President

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Mailing Address: Davidson College - E.H. Little Library, 209 Ridge Road, Box 5000, Davidson, NC 28035