The first woman to receive a college bachelor's degree graduated from Wesleyan College (then called Georgia Female College) in 1840.
Graduates of women's colleges hold a number of firsts, including: first woman to command a naval base (from College of Saint Elizabeth); first American woman winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (from Randolph-Macon Woman's College); first woman to become Director of the National Institute of Health (from Vassar College); first female Vice-Presidential candidate (from Marymount Manhattan College); and first woman appointed president of Harvard University in the school's 372-year history (from Bryn Mawr).
Bunting-Cobb Residence Hall at Douglass College at Rutgers University was the first residence hall in the country devoted to women pursuing science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.) majors.
Graduates of women's colleges include Hillary Rodham Clinton (Senator and former First-Lady), Katharine Hepburn (actress and screen legend) and Madeleine Albright (first female Secretary of State).
Program Spotlight
Illinois Wesleyan University Founded in 1850, Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) is a highly selective liberal arts university with an enrollment of 2,100. IWU has long been known for its outstanding faculty, distinctive liberal ...
