Women's History / Women on Campus

Women's History, also, Women on Campus. . Women's History – Until 1921, only men could seek degrees from Virginia Tech. Yet women , Black and white – had worked at the college since its founding in 1872. Women supported professors and cadets as laundresses and cooks. Professional positions held by white women before 1921 included nurse, librarian, and instructor. , . 1902: The first woman listed in the school's annual catalog is Frances Brockenbrough, superintendent of the large new infirmary. , . 1903: Mary G. Lacy is appointed the first professional librarian, and Margaret Spencer the president's secretary. , . 1914: Ella G. Agnew becomes a home demonstration agent under that year's federal Smith-Lever Act. L to R: Ella G. Agnew, Mary Moore Davis, Maude E. Wallace. Each had been a home demonstration agent and/or VPI professor. (1947, Virginia Tech Special Collections) , . 1921: Female students enroll, five of them as full-time degree candidates. , . 1923: Two-time alumna Mary Ella Carr Brumfield Garnett '23 (biology) becomes the first female graduate; and Ruth Terrett Earle '25, the first female engineering student, dons a cadet uniform and climbs the school's water tower, a cadet tradition. , . 1925: Excluded from the Bugle, female students produce a handmade yearbook, The Tin Horn. Editions also appeared in 1929, 1930 and 1931. Foreword of the 1925 Tin Horn , . 1959: After being denied admission to the Corps of Cadets, 2nd Lt. Patricia Ann Miller Hodges '59 becomes the first female graduate of VPI to obtain an ROTC commission, entering the Army Medical Specialist Corps. Virginia Tech Special Collections , . 1960: Laura Jane Harper, named dean of the School of Home Economics for both campuses, Radford and Blacksburg, becomes the first female academic dean at Blacksburg. Virginia Tech Special Collections , . 1966: Six Black women enroll: Jacquelyn Butler Blackwell '70, Linda Edmonds Turner '70, LaVerne Hairston Higgins, and (at left, L to R) Chiquita Hudson, Marguerite Harper Scott '70, and Linda Adams Hoyle '68. Virginia Tech Special Collections , . 1973: Female students are admitted to the Corps of Cadets and form the L Squadron, three years before the first women could enroll in the service academies. L Squadron, Deborah J. Noss Ayers '75 (far left), commander, 1973-1974. (Virginia Tech Special Collections) , . 1995: Peggy S. Meszaros is appointed provost and senior vice president. , . 1998: A Women's Studies program is established (renamed Women's and Gender Studies in 2008). , . 2014: Deborah Petrine '78 begins her term as the first female rector of the Board of Visitors. , Women on Campus , Female students, though enrolling from 1921 on, for many years found themselves excluded from such key aspects of campus life as the Corps of Cadets, the Upper Quad, and the yearbook, The Bugle. They formed their own clubs, from biology to basketball, in which they gained leadership experience and created community. , But a chronic shortage of on-campus housing curbed even their enrollment. “Girl's dormitory” No. 1 and No. 2, former private homes, supplied some housing, and, beginning in 1937, Ella Taylor White served as “director of women's dormitories.” , Hillcrest opened in 1940 and for nearly three decades provided a substantial campus home for female undergraduates. Among them were two early female students from China, sisters Shiran Tung Lam '49 (home economics) and Yvonne Rohran Tung '50 (horticulture). Later, two of the first Black women to enroll, three-time alumna Linda Edmonds Turner '70 (clothing, textiles and related art) and LaVerne Hairston Higgins, lived at Hillcreat in 1966-1967. , From 1944 to 1964, Radford College operated as the “Woman's Division” of VPI. Many female students who might otherwise have enrolled at the Blacksburg campus lived and studied instead at Radford. After the Radford affiliation ended, conversion of some men's residence halls to women's housing, together with the opening of Slusher Hall in 1972, enabled a sharp rise in female enrollment. , The years that followed brought the development of female students' intercollegiate sports, for example, and more women on the faculty and in administration. Yet full and safe inclusion of women on campus remains a goal. The Women's Center, established in 1994, became a key source of support. An annual “Take Back the Night” rally and march has for many years constituted one organized effort to curtail gender-based violence. , Buildings on the Blacksburg campus commemorating women honor Ella Graham Agnew, Maude Emma Wallace, Clarice Slusher, Laura Jane Harper, Peggy Lee Hahn, and Janie Elizabeth Patterson Hoge. , [Captions (top to bottom)] , . Mildred Thurow Tate, named the first dean of women in 1942 (Virginia Tech Special Collections) , . Hillcrest Hall, 1941 (Virginia Tech Special Collections) , . Yvonne Rohran Tung '50 Bugle, 1950 , . Left: LaVerne Hairston Higgins (front left) and other Hillcrest residents, 1966 (Virginia Tech Special Collections); Right: Founded in 1994, the Women's Center aims to promote a community that is safe, equitable, and supportive for women (2019, University Relations, Virginia Tech)