Ashlynn Stillwell joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in 2013 and is one of two female professors in the field of Hydrology and Hydraulics. She has several high-impact publications and is very active in leading the Sustainability Committee of the American Society of Civil...
Women in History
Assata Zerai came to the University of Illinois in 2002 as a faculty member in Sociology. In spring 2015, as Associate Dean in the Grad College, she worked with colleagues to establish an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation University Center of Exemplary Mentoring at the University of Illinois. They were...
Barbara Wilson came to Illinois in 2000 as a faculty member in the Department of Communication. She served as Department Head for six years, and during her tenure, the faculty size grew by 20%. She led initiatives to improve departmental relationships with alumni, create faculty mentoring programs...
Carolyn Tomchik received all of her degrees from the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois: a BS in 2005, a MS in 2011 and her PhD in 2016. As a student, she was a member of the Engineering Council, held executive...
Christie Gilson received her BS in 2001 and her PhD in 2008 both in Special Education. President Barack Obama nominated Christie to serve as a member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB) in 2012. Christie who is visually impaired is a disability rights advocate. She has...
Cinda Heeren received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in 2004, and became a senior lecturer in the department shortly after. Nominated more than once, Cinda was known as a champion for students on campus. She was a popular teacher, actively encouraged young women to take...
Clair Sullivan joined the Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering Department in 2012 as the first female faculty member. Her presence and efforts have allowed the department to hire three additional female faculty members. Clair’s research which is at the interface of radiation detection,...
Cynthia Oliver joined the College of Fine and Applied Arts’ faculty in 2000 and is now the Director of the MFA Program. She is an affiliate faculty member in Gender and Women Studies, Center for African Studies, African American Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Center for...
Nadya Mason joined the faculty of the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois in 2005. She became the first African American woman to receive tenure in the College of Engineering. Nadya is a winner of the Maria GoeppertMayer Award of the American Physical Society (2012) and the Denice...
Alice Cheever Bryan was among the first class of female graduates at the University of Illinois. She graduated in 1874 with a degree in the Humanities. While a student, she helped organize the Alethenai Literary Society and was one of the first officers. Alice’s notebooks from her...
Amelia Darling Alpiner Stern graduated in 1896 with a degree in English and Modern Languages. She is said to be the first female Jewish student to graduate from the University of Illinois and was a founding member of the University’s first sorority, Pi Beta Phi. As an alum, she organized the...
Anita M. Kellogg was a staff member in Physical Education beginning in 1893. She acted as the Director of Physical Culture for Women, as well as an instructor in elocution. As one of the very first female staff members at the University, she taught all courses offered by the...
Jennette E. C. Lincoln was hired in 1898 as Director of Physical Training for Women and held this position until 1909. In 1913, she wrote The Festival Book: May Day Pastime and the May-Pole which described various dances and games to be used in schools. In the 1909 Illio, student...
Lucy Flower was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1895. She was the first female trustee and consequently, the first elected female official in the state of Illinois. Lucy was influential in gains for women at the University, including the hiring of female faculty, the creation...
Martha Jackson Kyle graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1897 and an AM in 1899, both in English/Rhetoric. After graduating in 1899, she was hired to teach English and Rhetoric courses to students. Martha was Acting Dean of Undergraduates in 1905-06, which also allowed her to sit...
Mary Louise Page graduated in 1878 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Engineering. Mary was the first female in the United States to graduate with an architecture degree. Later, she became active in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Women featured in our weekly...
Violet DeLille Jayne was the first Dean of Women at the University of Illinois. She served on the Council of Administration and fought for women to be more independent in higher education. Violet was instrumental in establishing the Watcheka League (later known as the Woman’s...
Maudelle Brown Bousfield was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Illinois. She graduated in 1906 with a degree in Mathematics. Later in life, Maudelle became the first female African American principal of a Chicago public school. Bousfield Hall in...
Barbara A. Yates was the founding and first Director of the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program (WGGP), serving from 1980 to 1985. She received her PhD in comparative education and history from Columbia University. She is a Professor Emerita in Comparative Education at...
Mary Busey was an influential member of the Board of Trustees from 1904 until 1930. Coming from a local well-known family, this allowed her to advance opportunities for female students. Mary was influential in establishing on-campus housing for women, and Busey Hall is named in her...
Laura B. Evans became a member of the Board of Trustees in 1903, one of the very first women to join the Board after Lucy Flower. Laura remained on the Board until her death in 1932. The Residence Hall Evans Hall is named in her honor. Women featured in our weekly series are part of the 150...
Isabel Bevier joined the Domestic Science department at the University of Illinois in 1900. Isabel industrialized the Home Economics Program at the University in a way that brought distinction to the school as a leader. In doing so, she revolutionized higher education for women. Bevier Hall on...
The Alma Mater Statue was built in 1916 and remains one of the most sought out women on campus. Lorado Taft and Rolan Conklin announced the gift of the bronze Alma Mater statue with the idea that she would be a foster mother for academic women throughout history, but also to all students on campus...
Dorothy Day was a student on campus from 1914 to 1916. While on campus she was a member of the hockey team and Scribbler’s Club. After leaving the University, Dorothy founded the Catholic Worker Movement and was a social justice crusader in the 1920s. Women featured in our weekly series are...
Fanny Cook Gates earned a PhD in Physics in 1909 from the University of Pennsylvania when the nation’s annual production of physics PhD’s was about 10. In her research, Fanny demonstrated that radioactivity is not destroyed by either heat or ionization from chemical reactions. In 1916, she came to...
