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Gender, Markets, and the Expansion of Women's Education at the University of Pennsylvania, 1913–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Sarah Manekin
Sarah Manekin*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania Johns Hopkins University
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Extract

In the fall of 2001, with posters, tote bags, speakers, and balloons, the University of Pennsylvania launched its celebration of “125 Years of Women at Penn.” Exhibits illustrating the experiences of women students appeared around campus and on the Web, while banners trumpeting the contributions of Penn women waved from lightposts. On the first weekend in November, the University dedicated a four-foot seal marking the “Women's Walkway” in the center of campus and praised the tens of thousands of women who helped shape the University into what it is today. The festive anniversary, more than two years in the making, celebrated, in the words of University Trustee Judith Berkowitz, “the foresight of a great university to take in women when others did not.” The legacy of women at Penn was important to remember, Berkowitz added, because “it's very empowering to know your history.”

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , August 2010 , pp. 298 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 History of Education Society 

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References

1 Throughout the essay, I refer to the University of Pennsylvania as either “Penn” or “the University.”Google Scholar

2 Berkowitz, Judith quoted in Richard Mo, “Penn Celebrates 125 Years of Women,” Daily Pennsylvanian, 31 October 2001. Although Berkowitz did not name the institutions to which she was comparing Penn, one might imagine that she was referring to rival Ivy League institutions Princeton and Yale, neither of which admitted women as undergraduates until 1969. For additional coverage of the anniversary, see Melamed, Samantha and Yang, Christina, “Alumni Celebrate Women at Penn” Daily Pennsylvanian, 5 November 2001.Google Scholar

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29 Catalogue, 1924–1925. An additional 2,102 women, not enrolled in any specific degree program, took courses part-time in 1924–1925 through either the CCT or the extension school. As this study focuses on degree-granting programs, I have left these numbers out of my general totals. However, it is worth noting that the number of women taking courses at Penn was significantly higher at any given time than the number enrolled in degree programs.Google Scholar

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62 Ibid.Google Scholar

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64 I want to thank Kathy Peiss for sharing with me her astute reading of this evidence.Google Scholar

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75 Henderson earned her master's degree and completed the coursework for a PhD while working as the Personnel Officer. Hottel had already completed her master's degree before returning to Penn and eventually earned her PhD from the University.Google Scholar

76 Jean, H. Crawford, the previous Directress of Women, was regarded as aloof and removed. Henderson referred to her as “a woman from another age” and took pride in the accessibility and good relationships she and Hottel had with the women students on campus.Google Scholar

77 Miller, Karl G. to George Brakeley, 8 April 1938. Office of the President, Gates series, general files (1935–1940), box 11, “College of Liberal Arts for Women,” in the Penn archives.Google Scholar

78 Ibid.Google Scholar

79 Catalogue, 1939–1940. 193, 231.Google Scholar

80 Miller, “Daughters of Pennsylvania.“Google Scholar