The University of Nebraska Women’s Fraternity System through 1902

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

After autumn 1882, 12 female students at the University of Nebraska formed a club they called T. T. T., an acronym for the “The Tempest Tossed.”  The club disbanded at the end of the school year and two of the women decided to try to form a club for the following year.  Another person suggested they try to form a women’s fraternity.  The women corresponded with the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Through this correspondence, the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter was installed on May 19, 1884, making it the first women’s fraternity on the University of Nebraska campus (Walker, 1903).

The Kappa Kappa Gamma Chapter at the University of Nebraska. It is interesting to note the various locations of the Kappa key badge.

The University of Nebraska had been chartered by the state of Nebraska on February 15, 1869.  It took five years for the university to open its doors.  Although it was coeducational from the start, Nebraska’s experience with students unprepared for collegiate work mirrored the trend of other western universities during the same time frame (Manley, 1969).  When the University of Nebraska finally opened, the vast majority of the 130 students were in the preparatory department.  One of the five considered a collegiate freshman was a woman (Knoll, 1995).  The first woman graduate was Alice M. Frost who received her degree in 1876 (Manley, 1969).

On April 7, 1887, Kappa Alpha Theta joined Kappa Kappa Gamma on campus when its chapter was installed.  The chapter was inactive from June 1891 to February 10, 1896 (Wilson, 1956).

Delta Gamma’s chapter on the University of Nebraska campus was assisted by the men’s fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.  A local group, through the urgings of the Phi Delts, petitioned Delta Gamma for a charter.  The chapter was installed on October 19, 1888 (Stevenson, Carvill & Shepard, 1973).

The University of Nebraska Delta Delta Delta chapter owes its existence, in part, to a Delta Gamma from the University of Nebraska chapter who was visiting Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.  While at Knox College she met a few of the Tri Deltas from that campus.  Upon her return to Lincoln, she told an unaffiliated friend about the Tri Delta women at Knox and she urged her friend to apply for a Delta Delta Delta charter.  It became the organization’s westernmost chapter when it was installed on November 28, 1894 (Haller, 1988).

A Pi Beta Phi chapter was installed on January 21, 1895, and the reorganized Kappa Alpha Theta chapter was reinstalled in February of 1896.

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From – Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902, by Frances DeSimone Becque, Dissertation, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2002, pp. 116-7.  All rights reserved. The Bibliography will soon be available as a separate post.

 

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September 11, 2001 – A Day That Will Be Forever Etched on Our Minds

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

The weekend of September 8, 2001 was spent at a Pi Phi meeting in some Texas city. I can’t remember if it was Dallas or Houston. A few of us stayed until Monday to meet and discuss an updating of a program. There were two of us flying to St. Louis. We had decided to get to the airport early and then meet some more at the airport before we headed out. Sara, the other person heading to St. Louis, checked in before me. The TWA attendant told Sara there was a plane taking off in a few minutes and she could get on it. When she said she was going for it, I agreed to go too. We both got to the gate, the gate door was closed, but the attendant at the gate opened the door and we boarded. The rest of the committee went to their gates since we decided that we really didn’t need to meet again that day.

September 10, 2001 turned out to be the last day that you could go to a closed gate door and board the plane.

September 11, 2001 was a beautiful day in southern Illinois. The sky was a deep blue. I remember seeing deer in the backyard before I turned on the television and sat down at the computer to answer e-mails. I hadn’t talked to my sister Louise in a few days and calling her was one of the first things on my list.

Our mother had passed away that March after nine months of being in and out of hospitals dealing with a brain tumor and cancer. The day that we met in Florida knowing that the end was near for our mother, we were both in our private agonies. Her husband, a bond trader, had just left his job at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103 floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center. When he was in Florida he was networking and by the time we had made our way to Long Island for a memorial service a few days later, he had another job lined up, this time in the 60s of the South Tower.

He had been there for the earlier attack on the Trade Center and had walked down 100 floors by the light of his wrist watch. Having him in the middle of the towers seemed better than being on the top of the world.

The phone was in my hand as I turned on the television. The shot I saw on the screen made the hair rise on the back of my neck. A plane had crashed in to the World Trade Center. There was no way I could call my sister. She would hear the fear in my voice. I walked around the house with a knot in my stomach. A few minutes later the phone rang. It was Louise. There was panic in her voice. I told her to calm down. I kept telling her that at the end of the day she would be one of the lucky ones. I kept saying it even though I didn’t truly feel it. All I knew was that I needed to get to the east coast as quickly as possible. I was trying to make flight arrangements to get there when I heard from the voice on the other end of the phone that the Pentagon had been hit.

I was on the phone with Louise when the first tower fell. I called my uncle and cousins. They made their way to Louise’s house so that she wouldn’t be alone when she left work and went home.

It was after noon when she finally heard from her husband. She said that when he looked out the window and saw debris falling, he said to himself “This will not end well.” He and a colleague left their desks and headed out of the building. That earlier experience was still fresh in his mind. They ignored the all clear that sounded and told people it was safe to go back to their offices.

He left and kept walking north. He knew he was one of the lucky ones. Nearly everyone he had worked with at Cantor was gone. The colleague who helped him get the new job perished. My brother-in-law’s life would always be pre- and post-9/11.

September 11, 2001 changed lives. The events of the day are etched in many minds. My sister and her husband’s lives were changed that day.

As the anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the day will play over and over again in my mind. My sister is gone. It will be a tough day for her husband. As we remember that day, let us not forgot all the lives that were lost. May they rest in peace. And may those who mourn their loss know that they are not alone.

There is another post with the names of GLO members who were lost. 

(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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Chi Omega’s National Achievement Award 1930-58

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

A guest post written by Chi Omega’s National Historian, Lyn Harris. Thank you, Lyn!

No celebration of culture is more evident in Chi Omega’s history than is the National Achievement Award. This prestigious honor, the brainchild of Mary Love Collins, National President of Chi Omega from 1910-52, was presented from 1930–58 to a deserving woman who excelled as a leader in the arts, politics, pursuit of human rights, or the theater. Established because women were not being recognized with the top honors of the day (e.g., the Pulitzer, the Nobel), the award was the first given by a national women’s organization for the outstanding achievements of a woman. The award helped dispel the myth that women cannot appreciate the distinguished accomplishments of women.

In lavish fashion, the award, never received by a Chi Omega, was often presented at the White House, as Eleanor Roosevelt herself served on the selection committee. On several occasions, the presentation was made at the Chi Omega Convention, in those days held at the fabulous Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV.

The medals were designed by Frances Grimes and were 14 K solid gold disks, 2.75 inches in diameter bearing the image of Demeter, the patron goddess of Chi Omega. Mrs. Collins insisted that Chi Omega’s name not be used in publicity. She repeatedly told the press, the committee and the recipients that it was not the Chi Omega Award, that Chi Omega “simply provided the mechanics.”

The Chi Omega medal is on the lower right. A menu on the left features Margaret Chase Smith’s signature under the seal. On February 18, 1949, Senator Smith became an Honorary Initiate of Sigma Kappa’s Alpha Chapter at Colby College. Senator Smith was the first woman to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

The National Achievement Award recipients included internationally acclaimed anthropologist Margaret Mead and human-rights activist Madame Chiang Kai-shek. The only two National Panhellenic Conference organization members to receive the award were Carrie Chapman Catt, (Pi Beta Phi) women’s suffrage leader and United States Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith (Sigma Kappa).

Mrs. Roosevelt and Madame Chaing Kai Shek, 1942

On February 23, 1951, in her column My Day, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote  “I had to leave Hyde Park right after lunch on Wednesday and in the evening I went to Washington. This morning I recorded a number of interviews but the real reason I am here is to attend a meeting at which the Chi Omega Achievement Award for 1950 will be given to Miss Edith Hamilton in the field of literature. Also, the award for 1951 will be presented to Mrs. Anna Rosenberg for her outstanding work in the field of public service.

“I am particularly happy that this award, which is given by women to focus the attention of college students on the achievements of women in various fields, should go this year to my friend, Anna Rosenberg. It is a recognition that women not only admire achievement but dislike certain methods that may be used to try to discredit a patriotic and able public servant.”

Mrs. Roosevelt presents the National Achievement Award to Carrie Chapman Catt. Mrs. Catt’s dress was navy and the corsage was given to her by Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President, Amy Burnham Onken. Miss Onken attended the presentation at the White House.

 National Achievement Award Recipients

1930 Frances Grimes,* Arts – sculptor

1931 Florence Rena Sabin, Science

1933 Frances Perkins, Public affairs

1934 Josephine Roche, Public affairs

1935 Alice Hamilton, Science – medical

1936 Katharine Cornell, Arts – actress

1937 Florence E. Allen, Public affairs – Judge

1938 Rachel Crothers, Arts – playwright

1939 Margaret Mead, Science – anthropologist

1940 Carrie Chapman Catt, Public affairs – women’s suffrage

1941 Mrs. August Belmont, Public affairs

1942 Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, Public affairs

1943 Florence B. Seibert, Science – medical

1946 Anne O’Hare McCormick, Arts – author/journalist

1948 The Dowager Marchioness of Reading, G.B.E., Public affairs – organized women in war effort

1948 Anna Hyatt Huntington, Arts – sculptor

1950 Anna M. Rosenberg, Public affairs

1951 Edith Hamilton, Arts author – Greek/Roman scholar

1954 Margaret Chase Smith, Public affairs – U.S. Senator

1958 Catherine Drinker Bowen, Arts – biographer/historian

*Mary Love Collins promised Frances Grimes, designer of the medal, in a letter that she would be listed as the first recipient.

My thanks to Lyn Harris, National Archivist of Chi Omega Fraternity, for being the first guest blogger. Lyn’s undergraduate degree is from Mercer University and she has a Master’s in history from Georgia College and State University. Lyn has served Chi Omega as both a staff member and a loyal volunteer.  I am fairly certain Lyn bleeds cardinal and straw.  I am grateful to her for her support.

 

 

 

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Camp Panhellenic – The Place to Spend a Few Summer Weeks in the 1920s

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Camp Panhellenic, located on Washington Island in Wisconsin’s Door County, celebrated its third year in the summer of 1922. “The venture is proving a boon to college women and alumnae as a place for rest and recreation as well as a place to promote a fine, broad, intercollegiate spirit. Over 28 colleges were represented last year from 18 different states. The camp is unique in the fact it is planned only for college women, graduate and undergraduate, and is the first of its kind,” according to an article in a 1922 women’s fraternity magazine, the Arrow of Pi Beta Phi.

Although the camp was open to members of National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organizations, it was not affiliated with NPC and was privately run. A small ad in the back of a 1922 edition of Good Housekeeping gave all the particulars, “Camp Panhellenic for college women, Washington Island, Wisconsin, Director, Gladys R. Dixon, Blackwood Hotel, Chicago.”

An article in a 1921 Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma told of the great usefulness of Camp Panhellenic, “It affords for meeting women from other colleges and other fraternities. All the joy and beauty of the camp would be small if it were not shared with others of similar tastes and ideals. New lasting friendships are made quickly because the conventional bars are down. Lasting friendships are made because what is true and good in each is immediately recognized. One cannot camouflage in the heart of nature.” The article ends with this ditty:

Here’s to Kappa Alpha Theta.

Here’s to Alpha Phi,

Here’s to Kappa Kappa Gamma,

And the arrow of Pi Beta Phi,

Ring, ching, ching,

Here’s to Gamma Phi and Tri Delt,

And all girls’ fraternities,

But here’s to Panhellenic,

United are we.

After the 1921 Pi Beta Phi Convention at Charlevoix, Michigan, a group of 40 Pi Phis traveled on boat to Washington Harbor. From there, they were transported by automobiles to the camp. Campers included Grand President May Lansfield Keller and Leona Baumgartner, who would go on to earn a medical degree and from 1954-62, would serve as the first woman commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health. The Pi Phis spent two weeks at the camp, “The first week was too hot to live – out of the water – but we were too tired to care.” Things got better for the group’s second week, “much sleep, splendid meals, and a cool breeze made us feel like living and, when a local farmer called on the camp to save his cherry crop, there was unanimous response.” The group made ten cents per quart of cherries picked. One Pi Phi managed to pick 48 quarts. The group made $16 for the day’s efforts and it was donated to the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

A 1921 ad in the Trident of Delta Delta Delta noted that the camp opened on June 19 and closed on November 1. College women “who are vagabonds for the summer will find  a woodsy goal, free from the conventional summer resort — where they can store away their company manners with their ‘store clothes’ and tarry in the Heart of Nature, reviving the old college spirit around the campflre with the companionship of those who made college associations memorable, and cementing friendships through their greatest ally  — NATURE.”

Olga Achtenhagen, an English Department faculty member at Lawrence University who would go on to serve as Kappa Delta’s President from 1931-35, was known as the “hiking professor.” She wrote a poem about the camp and it appeared in the October 1922 Lyre of Alpha Chi Omega:

I can feel the cool lake breezes from the harbor blowin’ free
I can hear the tent flap flappin’, and it’s there that I would be;
Where the campin’ ground’s a-callin’, I can hear it callin’ me—
To Wisconsin’s island forest, to Michigan’s blue sea.

Come ye north by road and sail,

Follow north the same old trail—

You will see the sky blue water dance and toss itself to spray—

Oh—the breezes laugh and play,

O’er the harbor, lake, and bay,

And the dawn comes up a promise o’er the lake at break of day.

I can see the campfire flicker, I can hear the banjo strum,
I can see the stars a-shining through the pine trees one by one;
I can hear the sound o’ singing, and the chorus comes to me—
‘We’ve come north to Camp Panhellenic—we are one fraternity.’

Oh, whate’er our emblems be,

We are one fraternity—

We are going to work together just as well as we can play

While the breezes laugh and stray,

O’er the harbor lake and bay,

And the sun goes down a glory o’er the hills at close o’day.

Not much was heard about Camp Panhellenic after the 1920s. One can imagine that it suffered from the economic downturn of the Great Depression. The women who enjoyed a week or two or perhaps an entire summer season at Camp Panhellenic are no longer with us. Today, the stone chimney and fireplace of the main camp-house is part of a private glass home. It is about all that remains of Camp Panhellenic.

Here is an article about how the property was renovated. As you have already realized from reading this, it was not a Pi Phi retreat, it was for all NPC members.

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Happy Birthday Anna Botsford Comstock, Mother of Nature Education and a Kappa Alpha Theta

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

 

Anna Botsford (Comstock), 1874

Anna Botsford was born on September 1, 1854 in a small upstate New York town. Cornell University had just started admitting women when she enrolled as a student. She joined a group of 36 women who were outnumbered 13:1 by the men.

In 1874, prior to becoming a student, she was told by a Cornell male student, “You won’t have a gay time, for the boys won’t pay any attention to the college girls.” Her retort to this message was “Cornell must be a good place for a girl to get an education; it has all the advantages of a university and a convent combined.”

Kappa Alpha Theta’s Alpha chapter at Indiana Asbury (now known as DePauw University) had previously written the registrar of Cornell University asking for the names of women who might be interested in Kappa Alpha Theta.

While the registrar did not provide names, he did send the Alpha Chapter a catalog and Alpha selected from the catalog the names of three women whose names must have seemed promising. The New York Alpha chapter at Cornell University was installed on January 29, 1881. The ritual and charter were sent registered mail and the chapter members initiated themselves. The chapter later became known as the Iota Chapter.  Kappa Alpha Theta was the first women’s fraternity on the Cornell campus. Anna Botsford was among the chapter’s early initiates.

At Cornell, she took a zoology course taught by John Comstock. A few years later became his wife. In 1888, she became one of the first four women to be a member of Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society.

Without formal training, she illustrated the books her husband wrote. She studied insects under microscopes and drew what she saw. She wrote botany books and learned wood engravering. The Comstocks formed their own publishing company.

She spent a large part of her life at Cornell University as a student, the wife of a professor and a professor herself.  She was the Cornell’s first female assistant professor.

She also helped establish the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter at Cornell. In 1883, five Cornell University coeds discussed applying for a charter of a national women’s fraternity.  Comstock wrote a letter of recommendation to accompany the group’s letter to Kappa Kappa Gamma. Shortly thereafter, two members of the Syracuse chapter arrived in Ithaca to initiate the charter members.

In 1917, an unnamed Cornell University Kappa Alpha Theta wrote, “To know Mrs. Comstock is one of the rare privileges of being a Cornell student, a privilege always guaranteed Thetas, for whom she keeps a special place in her chimney corner.”

It is said she was a conservationist before the term was even coined. In 1988, 58 years after her death, the National Wildlife Federation named her to its Conservation Hall of Fame and calls her the “Mother of Nature Education.”

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Here’s to the Next 100 Years, Theta Phi Alpha!

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

It was 100 years ago today, on August 30, 1912, that Theta Phi Alpha was founded at the University of Michigan.  In 1909, Father Edward D. Kelly, a Catholic priest and the pastor of the university’s student chapel organized Omega Upsilon. He believed that the Catholic women at the university should have the opportunity to belong to an organization  that “resembled the Catholic homes from which they came.” At that time, Catholics were not always welcome in the other fraternal organizations on campus.

After Father Kelly left campus and became the Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Omega Upsilon was struggling.  There were no alumnae to guide the organization. Bishop Kelly’s vision that the Catholic women at Michigan should have a place to call their own was still alive even though he was not on campus. He enlisted the assistance of Amelia McSweeney, a 1898 University of Michigan alumna. Together with seven Omega Upsilon alumnae, plans were made to establish a new organization, Theta Phi Alpha.

Theta Phi Alpha’s ten founders are Amelia McSweeney, Mildred M. Connely, May C. Ryan, Selma Gilday, Camilla Ryan Sutherland, Helen Ryan Quinlan, Katrina Caughey Ward, Dorothy Caughey Phalan, Otilia Leuchtweis O’Hara, and Eva Stroh Bauer.  Seven of them were Omega Upsilon alumnae and two were undergraduate members of Omega Upsilon.

Theta Phi Alpha remained a local organization until 1919 when the Beta Chapter was formed at the University of Illinois. In addition, chapters at Ohio State University, Ohio University and the University of Cincinnati were chartered that year.

In 1921, Pi Lambda Sigma was founded as a Catholic sorority at Boston University. On June 28, 1952, Pi Lambda Sigma merged with Theta Phi Alpha. Its members at Boston University and the University of Cincinnati became members of the Theta Phi Alpha chapters on the two campuses. The chapter at Creighton University became the Chi Chapter of Theta Phi Alpha in the fall of 1952 and the Quincy College chapter became the Psi Chapter of Theta Phi Alpha in 1954.

Theta Phi Alpha celebrates Founders’ Day on April 30, the Feast Day of St. Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine is the patroness of the organization and her motto, “Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring, ” is Theta Phi Alpha’s motto as well.

Today, just as other organizations have accepted Catholic women, Theta Phi Alpha is open to women of all religions. From July 10-15, 2012, Theta Phi Alpha’s Centennial Convention took place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the city where it all began.

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The 2012 Paralympic Games

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Paralympic Games

Update: Tatyana McFadden won a Bronze medal in the 100m.

Update: Muffy Davis, a Tri Delta, has won two Gold medals for hand cycling at the 2012 Paralympics. Tatyana McFadden won her third Gold medal. Allison Aldrich, Delta Zeta, won a Silver medal as part of the women’s sitting volleyball team.

Update: Tatyana McFadden won her second Gold, this time in the 800 meter race.

Update: Tatyana McFadden, a Phi Sigma Sigma at the University of Illinois won the Gold medal in the 400 meter race. She has a bronze and three silver medals from the 2008 games and a silver and bronze from the 2004 competition. Her time in the 400 was 52.97 seconds and it was her personal best. She is also making history competing in the 100, 400, 800, 1,500 and marathon.

At least three National Panhellenic Conference women will be participating in the Paralympic Games in London beginning on August 29 and ending on September 9. If you are aware of other NPC women who will be competing, please let me know.

Allison Aldrich, U.S. Paralympic Sitting Volleyball, Delta Zeta, Nebraska Wesleyan – She lost her right leg to cancer when she was seven. She helped the U.S. team win a Silver Medal at the 2008 games. She is an avid athlete and is a member of the Nebraska Wesleyan golf team.

Muffy Davis, U.S. Paralympic Cycling, Delta Delta Delta, Stanford University – She was on track for being an Olympic skier when her dream was shattered and she was left paralyzed by a 1989 accident. She ski raced in the 1998 and 2002 Paralympics and won a total of four medals. She serves as an Ambassador for the International Paralympic Committee, one of 11 athletes world-wide to have that honor. This will be the first time she has competed in the cycling event at the Paralympics.

Tatyana McFadden, U.S. Paralympic Track & Field, Phi Sigma Sigma, University of Illinois – She won two medals in 2004 and four more in 2008. She will be competing in her first Paralympic marathon. Tatyana was born in St. Petersburg, Russia with an underdeveloped spinal cord. She was paralyzed below the waist and a hole in her spine. She spent the first six years of her life in a crowded orphanage. There wasn’t a wheelchair to use, so she learned to walk using her arms. She was adopted and brought to the U.S. in 1994 and she began her life in sports. Tatyana was a member of the University of Illinois’ wheelchair racing and wheelchair basketball teams. In 2004, she was 15 when she competed in her first Paralympic games. She won two medals.

Posted in Delta Delta Delta, Delta Zeta, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, National Panhellenic Conference, Notable Fraternity Women, Notable Sorority Women, Phi Sigma Sigma, Stanford University, University of Illinois | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The 2012 Paralympic Games

Presenting the Lincoln Bowl – Knox vs. Eureka

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Abraham Lincoln never attended college, but he has connections to many colleges.  There are statues of him on numerous campuses including in Morris Library at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and at Illinois College. There are colleges named for him. And now there is a football bowl game in his honor.

Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, is the only remaining site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate. The October 7, 1858 event between the two candidates for the Illinois Senate seat is depicted in a display in the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Two years earlier, in 1856, Lincoln spoke at Eureka College on behalf of John Charles Fremont, the Republican candidate for President.

The Knox and Eureka football teams played each other for the first time on October 14, 1893 and have met 22 times since then, including the pre-season game several years ago  at which one of my sons tore an ACL. The Lincoln Bowl is the beginning of a new tradition that harkens back to the rich heritage of both colleges.

Knox College will host the Lincoln Bowl in even-numbered years and Eureka in odd-numbered years. The official trophy is a bronze bust of Lincoln presented by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. Former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, the Foundation’s former chairman and current board member, donated the bust. The trophy will remain with the winner for the year. The first Lincoln Bowl on Saturday September 1, 2012 was won by Eureka College in a 62-55 victory.

Both colleges also claim other presidential connections. Ronald Reagan graduated from Eureka College; he was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter.  Knox’s 2005 commencement speaker was then Senator, now President, Barack Obama.

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NPC and NPHC Women Astronauts

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, died of pancreatic cancer on July 23, 2012 at the age of 61. Although there are some reports on the Internet that the first woman in space was a member of a Greek-letter organization, I could find no collaborating evidence. Ride attended Swarthmore College, a college that at the time had no women’s fraternities, and then transferred to Stanford University. When she was an undergraduate at Stanford in the 1970s, the women’s fraternities hadn’t yet been allowed back on campus.

Judith Resnick, Ph.D., the second woman in space, was the first American astronaut to be a member of a National Panhellenic Conference organization. Resnick, an Alpha Epsilon Phi from the Carnegie Mellon University chapter, was also the first Jewish-American in space. She was killed in the January 28, 1986 Challenger disaster. Alpha Epsilon Phi’s Foundation established the Judith Resnick Memorial Scholarship as a tribute to her. Preference is given to members who are pursuing engineering, science or other related degrees. The sorority also presented a portrait of Resnick to her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University.

While a number of female astronauts are graduates of the United States service academies, there are several other female astronauts who belong to National Panhellenic Conference organizations.

Margaret Rhea Seddon, M.D.,  earned a B.A. in physiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of Sigma Kappa. She married fellow astronaut Robert L. Gibson in April 1981 and they became the first U.S. astronauts to marry after being accepted into the program.

Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar, Ph.D., a graduate of the University of Washington, is a member of Kappa Delta.

Jan Davis, Ph.D., an Alpha Xi Delta, is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology. She has a second Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University. When she and Mark C. Lee, her husband, served as mission specialists on the Endeavour in September 1992, they became the first couple to fly in space together.

Mary Ellen Weber, Ph.D.,  was initiated into the Phi Mu chapter at Purdue University.

Laurel Blair Salton Clark, M.D., a member of Gamma Phi Beta at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was killed in the 2003 Columbia disaster. There is a display of her NASA memorabilia on display in the Sorority’s International Headquarters Museum in Centennial, Colorado.. In 2004, the Gamma Phi Beta Foundation established the Laurel Salton Blair Clark MD Memorial Leadership Endowment which  funds Gamma Phi Beta’s Leader Shape Institute, regional leadership conferences, collegiate consultant training and International Convention education programs.

Anna Lee Fisher, M.D., is a convention alumna initiate of Pi Beta Phi. She was honored at the 1989 San Diego Convention. She and her husband, fellow astronaut William F. Fisher, were married when they were chosen to be astronauts. Fisher was the first mother in space.

Susan J. Helms, M.S., a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, is a member of Chi Omega. She is a Special Initiate of the Chi Omega chapter at the University of New Mexico.

Kate Rubins, Ph.D., from the 2011 astronaut class, is also a Chi Omega. Her undergraduate degree is from UC San Diego.

Two female astronauts are members of National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations. Mae Jemison was a member of the Shuttle Endeavour in 1992 and became the first African-American woman to travel in space. She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Joan Higginbotham, a Southern Illinois University at Carbondale graduate, was initiated into the Brevard County (Florida) Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, in the spring of 1989.

Additionally, Carolyn Leach Huntoon, Ph.D., Delta Zeta, Northwestern State University, served as Astronaut Director of NASA.

The Women’s Fraternity/Sorority Women who have been or are astronauts in order of missions: 

Judith Resnick, Ph.D., Alpha Epsilon Phi, Carnegie Mellon University

Anna Lee Fisher, M.D., Pi Beta Phi, Alumna Initiate, San Diego State University

Margaret Rhea Seddon, M.D., Sigma Kappa, University of California, Berkeley

Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar, Ph.D., Kappa Delta, University of Washington

Jan Davis, Ph.D., Alpha Xi Delta, Georgia Institute of Technology

Mae Jemison, M.D., Alpha Kappa Alpha, Honorary Initiate

Susan J. Helms, M.S., Chi Omega, Special Initiate, University of New Mexico

Mary Ellen Weber, Ph.D., Phi Mu, Purdue University

Laurel Blair Salton Clark, M.D., Gamma Phi Beta, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Joan Higginbotham, M.S., Delta Sigma Theta, Alumna Initiate

Kate Rubins, Ph.D., Chi Omega, UC San Diego

 

On July 20, 2021, Wally Funk, an Alpha Chi Omega from the Gamma Epsilon chapter at Oklahoma State University, became the oldest person in space. She was on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket flight.

Posted in Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Delta Sigma Theta, Delta Zeta, Gamma Phi Beta, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Kappa Delta, National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), Notable Fraternity Women, Notable Sorority Women, Phi Mu, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Kappa | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cottey College – Owned by Women for Women

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri, was chartered in 1887. It is the only nonsectarian college owned by women for women and it began as the dream of one woman, Virginia Alice Cottey Stockard. Her inspiration was Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Mrs. Stockard’s dream was that women have the same quality educational as men.

Virginia Alice Coffey Stockard

In 1875, Cottey began teaching at Central College for Women  in Lexington, Missouri. She saved $3,000 during her nine years of teaching there. Her sisters, Dora and Mary, promised to financially help her achieve her dream of starting a college for women.

The sisters sought out a suitable site for the school. They wrote many letters, including a number to Southern Methodist ministers, discussing their plans for a girl’s school and seeking support. They knew they needed a donation of land or funds on the part of the city or town where the school would be located. Possible locales included Fort Worth, Texas, and Appleton City and Rolla, Missouri.

The President of Central College suggested that they contact Reverend William McClure in Nevada, Missouri. In 1883, Cottey and her sister Dora traveled to Nevada, Missouri, in Vernon County about 100 miles south of Kansas City, to meet with city officials to discuss locating the college there. Town businessmen were enthusiastic about the idea. The sisters sought a donation of land on which to locate the school. After several meetings, six acres on the edge of town, land belonging to Major Prewitt, was obtained for the school.

Cottey College opened as Vernon Seminary in 1884. Main Hall was the only building. A West Annex was built on the building in 1886 and a North Annex followed in 1889. Ten years later, the South Annex was added. The school featured an academic program that focused on religious training and discipline of the mind. It was also a family affair. Cottey’s sisters Dora, Mary, and Kate, as well as niece Rose, all dedicated teachers, helped during the early years.

In 1890, Cottey married Samuel Stockard, a widower with three children, in the Main Hall parlor. He died six years later and she reared and educated his children. She remained president of Cottey College until 1921, when she requested that the trustees elect James C. Harmon as president. He remained in that position until 1924, when Virginia Cottey Stockard again took the helm.

In 1926, Stockard was invited to become a member of P.E.O. Chapter DW, Nevada, Missouri and she accepted the invitation. P.E.O., a philanthropic educational organization was founded at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant in 1869. More than 250,000 women have been members of P.E.O. In 1927, Stockard gave Cottey College to the P.E.O. Sisterhood.

Today Cottey College offers two-year degrees in liberal arts and science as well as selected four-year programs. The resident student population represents a wide variety of states and countries. More than 8,200 women are Cottey College alumnae. Meredith Auld Brokaw who attended Cottey College in 1958-59, was this year’s honored speaker at the 128th commencement. She later graduated from the University of South Dakota where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi.

One of the most unique things about Cottey College is that all second-year students spend a week abroad during the spring semester. In March 2013, second-year Cottey students will travel to Italy visiting Rome and Florence. Recent second-year students have visited Italy, England, France and Spain.  Most of the costs are covered by tuition and students have the opportunity to spend an additional week abroad at their own expense.

Every Cottey College alumna I have met has been an enthusiastic supporter of the college. How impressive that a women’s organization, P.E.O., has kept alive Virginia Cottey Stockard’s vision of a college where women could learn and thrive. Cottey College is indeed a testament to the strength and earnestness of purpose of P.E.O. members.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

Posted in Cottey College, Fran Favorite, Mary Lyon, Mount Holyoke College, P.E.O. | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Cottey College – Owned by Women for Women