All the privileges and honors: A brief history of women at Iowa State
Iowa State opened its doors to women in higher education at its founding, the first land-grant institution to be co-educational from the beginning.
But it would be 149 years between when the first college president took office until a woman would hold the highest office at the university, when Wendy Wintersteen became president in 2017. Over the years, women students, faculty, and staff would be forced to navigate a not-quite-equal system of hiring and educational opportunities and often experience a confounding “bump” when they hit the glass ceiling, especially in traditionally male-dominated fields.
But women persisted. They pushed forward. They blazed trails. They fought for equal access and equitable rules. They stood on the shoulders of the women who came before them.
In his inaugural address, Iowa State’s first president, Adonijah Welch, expounded on the new approach to education the Iowa Agricultural College was taking – leaving behind classical education to combine “learning and labor” and focus on the “branches of natural science which underlie the industries of this beautiful state.”
Welch also commented on the progressive nature of the new institution of learning, which admitted women “on equal terms with young men, to all the privileges and honors which the institution can bestow.”
Indeed, President Welch’s spouse, Mary Welch, made her own indelible mark on Iowa State. She was active on campus, organizing the Department of Domestic Economy that included classes in the sciences. Her classes in domestic economy were the first in the nation offered for college credit. She also initiated the first extension work at a land-grant institution and managed to even write a cookbook.
Twenty-six students graduated in Iowa State’s first graduating class (1872), and two of them were women. You can contrast that with today’s numbers: In fall 2019, 44 percent of the student body of 33,391 were women.
Women have made history at Iowa State in engineering, food science, chemistry, and the arts. They organized the Ladies Military Company in 1878 and trained as war assistants through the Curtiss-Wright Cadettes Program during World War II.
They carved out their place in the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity and the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, and through programs like Women in Science and Engineering and the Women and Gender Studies major. They made their voices heard.
From the beginning, thousands upon thousands of women have celebrated their success at Iowa State. In this 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote, we look back at some of the milestones of women’s influence at Iowa State and at some of the most colorful, beloved, and groundbreaking women who together have truly made history.
A timeline of women at Iowa State
Based on “150 Years: Iowa State University’s Sesquicentennial Timeline,” spring 2007 VISIONS
1868
Seventy men and women are received for preparatory training on Oct. 21, making Iowa State the first land-grant institution to be co-educational from the beginning.
1869
The first class consists of 173 students: 136 men and 37 women.
1871
The College Herbarium, a library containing dried and pressed plants, is established. By 2006, the renamed Ada Hayden Herbarium grew to include 640,000 specimens of flowering plants, conifers, ferns, mosses and liverworts, algae and lichen, grasses, and legumes.
1872
The first courses are given in domestic economy (later called home economics and then family and consumer sciences) and are taught by Mary B. Welch, the president’s wife. Iowa State is the first land-grant college in the nation to offer training in domestic economy for college credit.
Twenty-six students graduate in the first class: twenty-four men and two women.
1876
The Board of Trustees funds an experimental kitchen for Domestic Economy. The kitchen includes a range, cooking utensils, a supply of hot and cold water, a sink, cupboard, and towel rack. A Century of Home Economics (1971) notes it as the first in any college.
1878
Carrie Chapman Catt helps organize the Ladies Military Company G (standing for “girls.”)
1882
Mary Welch gives a course of lectures to a class of women in Des Moines, the earliest home economics extension work in the United States.
1895
Margaret Hall, the first dormitory for women students and named for Margaret Stanton, is opened.
1899
A carillon of ten bells is installed in the Campanile (erected in 1898), manufactured by John Taylor and Company of Loughborough, England. Professor Edgar Stanton (class of 1872) donates the bells in memory of his first wife, Margaret MacDonald Stanton.
1907
The first May Day Festival is sponsored by the Women’s Athletic Association, in honor of senior women.
1911
The Domestic Technology Building (part of MacKay Hall), started in 1910, is completed. The new classrooms, kitchens, sewing and fitting rooms, demonstration laboratories, and offices are for the Home Economics Department and its 250 students.
1918
Iowa State trains over 3,000 men for World War I service through the Student Army Training Corps. The training is interrupted by the influenza epidemic and a quarantine of the campus.
Ada Hayden is the first woman to receive a PhD from Iowa State in the Department of Botany.
The first White Breakfast for women students is held on Dec. 18, a holiday tradition of hot chocolate, white dresses, and candles. The menu includes cream of wheat, stuffed olives, and stollen.
1924
The first nursery school at Iowa State is founded in the Child Development Department, primarily to give home economics students practical experience with young children. The program expands in the 1950s operating on a daily basis and also including older children.
1943
The Curtiss-Wright Cadettes Program is established at Iowa State during World War II, to train college women to function during the war as assistants in the Engineering Department. Sponsored by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, the course consisted of work in methods, mechanics, drafting, and processing.
Fraternity houses are used as girls’ dormitories while service men occupy some of the girls’ dormitories.
1962
The women’s curfew is relaxed, allowing them to be away from the residence halls or sororities until midnight Sunday through Thursday, 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Freshmen, however, must still be inside by 10:30 p.m. on week nights.
1966
A no-hours policy for senior women and women over 21 goes into effect.
1973
A proposal for a women’s center is submitted to the vice president for academic affairs. The purpose for the center was to provide Iowa with a model for coordinated programs of special interest to women and to contribute to the integration of women into the economic, educational, socio/cultural, and political life of the state.
1974
The Departments of Physical Education for Men and Women are combined, and Barbara Forker is named the first department head.
1981
The Margaret Sloss Women’s Center is located in Sloss House, named for Thomas Sloss, superintendent of buildings and grounds (1910-1932) and mechanical equipment (1932-1937). The center is named for his daughter, Margaret Sloss, ISU’s first woman graduate in veterinary medicine.
1992
ISU English professor Jane Smiley wins the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her Iowa-based novel, A Thousand Acres.
The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics is established.
1995
The Christina Hixson Opportunity Scholarships are introduced, providing financial support for students in every county in Iowa.
The Plaza of Heroines is dedicated in front of Catt Hall to honor Carrie Chapman Catt and other women who have made an impact on families, communities, and society.
1996
The Legacy of Heroines scholarship is established.
1997
More than 60% of Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine graduates are women, up from 15% in 1979. The percentage would continue to grow.
1999
The women’s basketball team reaches the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
Iowa State’s Society of Women Engineers (SWE) chapter wins five national awards, including first place for the best student outreach program in the nation.
2005
Melinda Cerney is the first Iowa State University student to graduate with a doctorate in human computer interaction (one of three programs in the U.S.)
2006
Elizabeth Hoffman, former ISU liberal arts and sciences dean and former president of the University of Colorado, is named ISU’s first female provost and vice president for academic affairs.
2007
Women Impacting ISU calendar is created by the Catt Associates student leadership organization as a tribute to current students, faculty, and staff who distinguish themselves through their accomplishments at Iowa State.
Ready to Run® Iowa is established as a nonpartisan campaign training program to encourage women to run for elected office. The program is offered through the Catt Center for Women and Politics.
2010
Lisa Koll shatters the collegiate record in the 10,000-meter run, becoming the sixth-fastest American ever in the event.
2014
Five of Iowa State’s seven academic colleges are led by female deans (Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, and Liberal Arts and Sciences).
2017
Wendy Wintersteen (PhD entomology), former dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Science, is named the 16th (and first female) president of Iowa State University.
2019
ISU Theatre’s 2019-20 season featured six shows written by women, scheduled two female Tony Award winners to appear on campus, and hosted a yearlong symposium series on gender in the arts.
The Margaret Sloss Women’s Center changes its name to the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity to better represent its mission and vision.
2020
The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics celebrates 100 years of women’s suffrage with “Hard Won. Not Done,” a statewide kickoff of the 19th Amendment centennial commemoration on Friday, Feb. 14, with performances and lectures.