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Academic Life

1890-1944 Women Opening Doors

1890

Miss Abbie L. Marlatt

As Utah Agricultural College (UAC) opens its doors, two women are faculty members: Miss Abbie L. Marlatt, the first professor of domestic economy, and Mrs. Sarah Goodwin, music teacher.

Twenty-two students register the first day. Miss Vendla Berntson is the first to enroll. Within the first year, 139 students are enrolled (33 women and 106 men).

The Domestic Arts curriculum is offered to women students. Women take courses such as shopwork and trigonometry alongside men, in addition to courses such as dairy practice, cutting and sewing, and cookery and nutrition.

1891

President Sanborne encourages young women to take French, the language of "fashionable circles...and more used in domestic affairs."

1892

Women are required to take military drill, with women carrying the spear, light rifle, or some other light weapon.

1895

Utah State Agricultural College's first graduating class: three men and one woman, Martha Hoyt.

The Domestic Arts curriculum changes to "corresponding work more suitable for women," requiring women to take sewing and dressmaking in place of shopwork, lectures on cooking in place of trigonometry, and cooking in place of electricity and magnetism.

1905

Elizabeth Church Smith

Faculty increases to 60. Of the new faculty members listed, only one is a woman: Miss Elizabeth Church Smith, librarian.

1917

Home Economics education is funded and implemented to train teachers for public schools.

1918

During World War I, women have the opportunity to specialize in the Domestic Arts curriculum and be fit to take over "management of the cafeterias, bakeries, laundries, and canneries; they must be ready to supervise sections in department stores or to safeguard the health of workers in mills and factories."

UAC is one of the first colleges in the United States to offer a class devoted exclusively to "mothercraft."

1921

Enrollment on campus for the 1920-1921 school year: women, 300; men, 874.

Jessie Whitacre becomes the first Dean of School of Home Economics.

Ethelyn Oliver Greaves receives the first Master's degree given to a woman at UAC,a master of Science degree in Home Economics.

1927

Of the faculty at land-grant institutions, 18.6 percent are women. Only 10 percent of the women faculty are married.

The Home Management House is completed to serve as a school for women majoring in Home Economics, training women to be good homemakers.

1933

The National Economy Act creates a setback for married women faculty members; married women are prohibited from employment if the husband has a job.

1938

Abbie Marlett, one of the first women faculty members of Utah Agricultural College, receives an honorary degree from UAC--Doctor of Law.

1941

Enrollment on campus for the 1940-1941 school year: women, 1209; men, 2629.

1945-1969 Women Emerging

1945

Welding Class

World War II drastically changes the dynamics of life on campus. Enrollment takes a huge drop: 692 women, 297 men.

1950

Enrollment on campus: women, 962; men, 3323.

1956

Utah Agricultural College becomes Utah State University.

1958

Carolyn deRoos is the first woman to graduate from the College of Natural Resources with a BS in Fisheries and Wildlife, majoring in game management.

1959

Enrollment: two men to every one woman on campus.

1961

Phyllis Snow serves as Dean of the College of Family Life from 1961-1978.

1962

Phyllis Snow

Dean of Family Life, Phyllis Snow, revises the curriculum to include the "competence necessary for a professional career."

1963

Luna Robertson Brite is one of the first women to receive a doctorate degree from USU. She received a Doctor of Education degree.

1967

Adonna Watkins Drake is not only the first woman to graduate from the College of Engineering with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, but also the first to graduate with an MS degree in engineering two years later. Drake comments, "There is a place for women in engineering, and there is a place for engineering in women."

First engineering scholarship is offered to Cheryl Sunada.

1970-1999 Women In the Forefront

1971

Three women hold the academic rank of full professor; 147 men are full professors. Thirteen women are associate professors; 130 men are associate professors. Twenty-three women are assistant professors; 130 men are assistant professors.

1973

There are 499 faculty members employed by the University during the 1973-1974 fiscal year; 66 are women, with the majority of these women concentrated in Family Life (24), Education (20), Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (19). Two women are on the faculty of the College of Business, and one woman is on the faculty of the College of Science. No women faculty members are employed in the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, and Natural Resources.

Judith M. Gappa is the new Affirmative Action Coordinator and helps to implement the University's Affirmative Action Plan.

USU is among the more than ten universities in the United States to accept women candidates in the ranks of ROTC. One female student from USU receives one of twenty national Army four-year scholarships.

1974

Twenty-one women are enrolled in the College of Engineering.

1975

Marilyn Weiss is named Director of Women's Athletics at USU and administers 11 scholarships for women athletes - the first scholarships awarded to women in athletics at USU. Scholarships for men athletes number 125.

1978

First woman selected as the Outstanding Senior in the College of Engineering.

Helen Lundstrom named Assistant Vice President for Special Projects.

1980

Cecelia Foxley

Cecelia Foxley is appointed Vice President of Student Services. She is also appointed as the Director of the Women's Center and serves until 1982.

1984

The Perkins Act is aimed at eliminating sex bias and stereotyping in home economics education, providing grants for "underserved" groups--male students, disadvantaged students, the handicapped, and single parents.

1987

Karen Morse

Karen Morse wins the first Nicholas C. and Mary Katherine Leone Leadership Award.

1988

Eighty-six percent of the faculty women in the tenure-track categories are employed in three colleges: Family Life, Education, and Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS). There are no tenure-track faculty women in the Colleges of Engineering or Natural Resources. In salary, the Colleges of Natural Resources and Engineering are the highest paying, and the Colleges of Family Life, Education, and HASS are the lowest paying.

Karen Morse is named the Dean of Science.

Sonia Manual-Dupont, Professor of English and Communicative Disorders, is selected as USU's first Honors Professor for the 1988-1989 academic year.

1989

Karen Morse is appointed Provost, the first woman in Utah to hold the second most powerful post at a university or college.

1990

Joyce Kinkead becomes Associate Dean, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

1991

Sue Guenter-Schlesinger is named the Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Director.

1993

Anne J. Anderson, Professor of Biology, receives the Women and Gender Research Institute Distinguished Professor Award.

1996

The number of women enrolled in USU Engineering peaks at 190 students.

Anne M. Butler, Professor of History, receives the second WGRI Distinguished Professor Award for 1996-97.

1997

Patricia S. Terrell is named Vice President of Student Services.

1999

Ann M. Berghout Austin is appointed Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Family Life. She receives the 1999-2000 WGRI Distinguished Professor Award.

Women in the 21st Century

2000

Anne M. Butler, Professor of History, becomes one of the first three named Trustee Professors.

Faculty members include 270 women and 524 men. Statistics include: professor, 177 men, 17 women; associate professor, 189 men, 75 women; assistant professor, 106 men, 95 women. While women have increased in numbers in academic rank, the percent of increase is small and at a lower rate of increase than men (See 1971 numbers to note comparison).

2001

Nineteen women are on the faculty of the College of Science.

USU enrollment for the 2000-2001 school year: 11,262 women; 10,228 men.

Liz Grobsmith is the first woman named as Dean, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

Barbara A. White is appointed the first Vice President for Information Technology/CIO.

2002

Linda L. Wolcott is appointed the first Vice Provost for Libraries and Instructional Support.

Noelle E. Cockett is appointed the first Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.

Caryn L. Beck-Dudley is appointed the first woman Dean of the College of Business.

Noelle L. Cockett is appointed the first woman Dean of the College of Agriculture.

Pamela Riley, Professor of Sociology, receives the 2002-2003 Women and Gender Research Institute Distinguished Professor Award.

2003

A $3 Million, Five-Year NSF Grant, written by a collaborative team of USU faculty - Ronda Callister, Christine Hult, Jim Powell, and Kim Sullivan - is awarded. ADVANCE Utah State creates "Supportive Workplace Initiatives" to improve gender equity and faculty effectiveness. ADVANCE will primarily work with the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Natural Resources and Sciences where women are especially under represented. Some programs developed will support colleges university-wide.

2004

Ann E. Aust is named Associate Vice President for Research.

2005

	1995	2005
Total Tenure Tract Faculty	524	749
Women TTF	103	226
% Women	20%	30%

	Total Women		% Women
Categories	1995	2005	1995	2005
Professor	7	28	3.4%	11%
Assoc Professor	47	92	26%	35%
Asst Professor	49	106	37%	45%

2006

E. Helen (Eddy) Berry, Professor of Sociology, is named the Women and Gender Research Distinguished Professor.