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.
Cornelia Shaw: First to serve as a Davidson College Administrator, College Librarian, and the Registrar
Caroline MacBrayer: First to become a regular, full-time faculty member; First member of the Psychology faculty
Bonnie Cone: First to receive an honorary doctorate from Davidson
C. Louise Nelson: First member of the Economics faculty
Geraldine A. Dwyer: First member of the Sociology faculty
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
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
Tracy Charles '74: First to letter in a varsity sport
Tonia K. Devon: First member of the Political Science faculty
Susan Martin Parker '75: First to serve as full-time coach of a varsity team
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
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
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
Rusk Eating House: First all women's eating house established
Catherine Landis Henschen '78: First to edit The Davidsonian
Laurie Bingaman Lackey '79: First awarded a Watson Fellowship
Melinda Lesher: First member of the Art faculty
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
Anne R. Elliot: First elected president of the Black Student Coalition
Emily Knobloch '82: First All-American athlete
Esther Wruck: First member of the German faculty
S. Sherburne Laughlin '83: First elected Senior Class President
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
Ruth Freitag: First member of the Chemistry faculty
Lillian Grace "Beadsie" Woo '86: First elected SGA President
Carolann Connor Willingham: First elected president of the Alumni Association
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
Lynn Poland: First member of the Religion faculty
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
Ann Marie Costa: First member of the Theatre faculty
Jeanne Neumann: First member of the Classics faculty
Nancy Cable and Kristen Hills Bradberry: First women to become Vice-Presidents.
Carol E. Quillen: First female President
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