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WVU Women's History

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1831

January 3-Monongalia Academy trustees decide to ask Virginia General Assembly if they can sell property and erect female academy.

1834

April 1- Morgantown Female Academy opens.

1858

January 4-Virginia General Assembly incorporates Woodburn Female Seminary.

1863

January 31-Harriet Eliza Lyon born, Albion, NY.

1866

January 19-Senator William Price introduces bill in WV Legislature to locate land-grant institution in or near Morgantown.

1867

January 31-WV Legislature votes to locate University in Morgantown.

February 7-WVU founded as Agricultural College of WV for men only.

1869

April 2-WVU faculty committee rules against co-education as a “Northern notion and doubts its legality.”

April14-Elizabeth I. Moore opens Morgantown Female Seminary.

1873

January 25-Woodburn Female Seminary building burns.

1885

February 20- WV House of Delegates defeats WVU co-educational bill.

1889

February 12-WV Senate again defeats WVU co-education.

April 23-Morgantown Female Seminary burns.

June 22-Faculty votes to allow women into collegiate (i.e. non-professional) classes if they pass required exams.

September 1-Ten women admitted to WVU:

Mary Lieurena Baker (m. Stewart), Mary Louvinia Brown (m. Bent), Ella Butcher (m. Brown), Ida Esther Hackney (m. Garlow), Lillian May Hackney, Elizabeth Ludington Hagans, Harriet Eliza Lyon (m. Jewett), Sallie L. Norris (m. Showalter), Otella V. Price (m. Kennedy), and Mabel C. Reynolds (m. Glasscock).

1891

June 10- Harriet E. Lyon became first woman to receive WVU degree.

1895

June 13 - Agnes J. Morrison of Wheeling first woman to receive WVU law degree.

November 19 - Woman’s League of the West Virginia University founded by students, faculty, and townswomen.

1897

October 14-Preparatory school and all WVU departments open to women.

1898

June 9- Winifred South (m. Knutti) first WVU woman to get MA Degree with thesis on “Higher Education of Women in the United States.”

1899

August 15-Hannah Belle Clark hired as professor of Domestic Science and first Dean of Women.

1900

December 17- Frances Leech first Domestic Science prize winner.

1905

May 8-WVU chapter of Alpha Xi Delta chartered. June 1-WVU chapter of Chi Omega chartered.

1906

December 22-WVU chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma chartered.

1908

November 28- Retejos Jichancas founded at WVU.

December 2- "Women's League reception. All girls out in their best. No men present." (Athenaeum)

1918

Fall Semester-Woman's Hall (Stalnaker Hall) opened.

September 21- WVU Chapter of Pi Beta Phi chartered.

1919

June 15-Livia Poffenbarger first woman to receive WVU honorary degree.

1920

August 26-Woman Suffrage (XIXth) Amendment ratified.

October 16 -"Freshman tags replaced by 'cute' little caps of Gold and Blue."(Athenaeum)

1922

February 18-WVU chapter of Delta Gamma chartered.

November 11-First Co-ed Prom: women only.

1923

November 24- Lambda chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron, national domestic science honorary, installed at WVU.

December 15 - Second Co-ed Prom: Dean of Women announces no events may compete with dance.

1924

June 13-WVU chapter of Alpha Delta Pi chartered.

September 18-Registration reaches 2,004.

October 28-Matrix, women's journalism society, organized at WVU.

November 5-Carrie Chapman Catt, suffrage leader, speaks in Morgantown.

December 8- Eleanor Bauer chosen first cadet battalion sponsor.

1925

December 4-"Student directories put on sale; not so hard now to get a date." (Athenaeum)

February 18-"Students nominate 25 prettiest girls for style show." (Monticola)

February 21-"First Manless Dance Held in 1922. Another To-night." (Athenaeum)

1926

January 25-"Co-eds want. . . skirts a bit shorter. Gott Fordit!" (Monticola)

March 10-Plans for women's gymnasium (E. Moore Hall) approved by State Board of Education.

November 2- Ruth C. Wood, WVU student in 1890, first woman in Monongalia County nominated for House of Delegates.

1927

June-Carrie Virginia White, of Weston, W.Va., became the first WVU woman granted a degree in [electrical] engineering.

1928

November 28-Elizabeth Moore Hall, women's physical education building, dedicated.

1930

April 11-WVU chapter of Alpha Phi chartered.

April 18-WVU chapter of Gamma Phi Delta chartered. 1931 September l2-WVU chapter of Theta Upsilon chartered.

1934

February 6-WVU chapter of Sigma Delta Tau chartered.

1939

June 2-Margaret Buchanan Cole becomes first woman president of WVU Alumni Association.

November 11 - Mary Lou Ballard chosen first homecoming queen.

1942

October 9 - Betty Head (m. Baker) becomes first woman student body President when Peter Yost enlists in Navy.

1944

May l2 -"First All-Women's Day to Be Held," "Women's honoraries initiate new members, women's groups sing." (Athenaeum)

1945

August 24- Victorine Louistall (m. Monroe) M.Ed., first African-American woman to earn a graduate degree from WVU.

1951

March 31-WVU chapter of Kappa Delta chartered.

1957

Annette Chandler-Broome, B.S., first African-American woman to earn an undergraduate degree from WVU.

1969

April 23-Associated Women Students win no-hours policy enjoyed by men.

1970

February 13- Two professional legal fraternities accept women to retain university recognition.

1972

August 9-Dr. Leland Byrd sends memo to WVU president James Harlow requesting organization of women's athletic teams to comply with Title IX.

September 9-Mountaineer Marching Band first performs with women musicians at WVU vs. Villanova football game.

1973

January 20-WVU chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha chartered.

April10-Proposal for women's intercollegiate athletic teams approved.

April 19-Curfew lifted for women, women now may drink beer on campus, wear shorts to class, visit men's residence halls.

1978

September 7-27-September Festival of Women, WVU's first major conference on women.

1980

August 25-Women's Studies Program begins.

1983

April 30-WVU chapter of Delta Sigma Theta public service sorority chartered.

1984

May 21-Certificate in Women's Studies approved.

September 27-Center for Women's Studies opens with beginning of fall semester with Dr. Judith G. Stitzel as director.

December 21-Georgeann Wells first woman in U.S. to dunk a basketball in an official game.

1985

Barbara Harmon-Schamberger was selected as the 20th student and first woman from WVU to win a Rhodes Scholarship.

December 28- Yukiko Kojima first student to receive Master of Arts in Liberal Studies. (MALS)

1986

April 21-First Certificate in Women's Studies presented to five students.

August 23-WVU chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi chattered. October 14-WV Alliance for Women's Studies founded.

October 15-Neil S. Bucklew announces Social Justice program and WVU Women's Centenary.

December 6-WVU retires Cathy Parson's jersey in recognition of her record as highest scorer in WVU women's basketball history.

1987

April 3 - First JoAnne and Charles Dickinson Women's Studies Symposium, "Gender/Power/Knowledge."

June 10-First annual meeting of WV Alliance for Women's Studies.

June 30-Dean Betty Boyd retires after working with WVU students since 1948.

September 21-Center for Women's Studies' Carrie Koeturius Scholarship for Returning Women Students officially endowed.

1988

November 8-Margaret Workman, graduate of WVU's College of Law, first woman elected member of WV Supreme Court.

1989

March 1- First Annual WVU Women of Color Day.

March 11-WVU Women's Basketball team defeats Temple 63-54 and wins first Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship.

April 20- Kittie Blakemore first woman to receive Morgantown Touchdown Club award.

September 20- Women's Centenary Biennium officially opens with academic convocation at Creative Arts Center.

October 20- Dedication of Tower II as Lyon Tower.

1990

June 20 through July 30 - WV Day historical exhibit titled “No Turning Back: Women and Education in West Virginia.”

September 1 - Natalie Tennant makes her first appearance as Mountaineer Mascot at a WVU football game. (WVU vs. Kent State)

September 14 - Center for Women's Studies' 10th anniversary. Women's Centenary video, "No Turning Back," premiers.

December 3-Lisa DiBartolomeo, Class of 1991, becomes first British Marshall Scholar from WVU.

1991

March 6- Creative Arts Center opening of "With Gratitude to Eva Hubbard," a retrospective exhibit of works by women artists. Hubbard served on Department of Art faculty from 1897 to 1913.

March 20-WVU Women's Centenary Day on campus, including placement of WVU Women's Centenary Time Capsule in Woodburn Circle.

The Velma Miller Collection in Support of Women's Leadership established within the Center for Women's Studies' Library. Winifred South Knutti Graduate Award in Women's Studies announced ($1,000.00 yearly for West Virginia residents). Claude and Alma Rowe Fund for Excellence through Equity announced (to encourage study of access of Appalachian peoples to education).

May 12- WVU Graduation festivities honoring 100th anniversary of Harriet Eliza Lyon's becoming first woman to earn a WVU degree. Official end of WVU Women's Centenary biennium.

To be continued . . . .