Pembroke College in Brown University was the coordinate women's college for

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. It was founded in 1891 and merged into Brown in 1971.

Founding and early history

The founding of the Women's College Adjunct to Brown University in October 1891, later renamed the Women's College in Connection with Brown University, provided an organizational structure to allow women to attend that institution; Brown College remained as the

men's college In higher education, a men's college is an undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institution whose students are exclusively men. Many are liberal arts colleges. Around the world In North America United States In the United States, co-ed ...

. The system resembled those at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

( Columbia College for men,

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

for women) and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

(

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

for men,

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and h ...

for women). Brown's single-sex status had first been challenged in April 1874, when the university received an application from a woman. The Advisory and Executive Committee decided that admitting women at the time was not a good proposal, but they continued to revisit the matter annually until 1888. Subsequent discussions led to the creation of the Women's College on October 1, 1891. The first women students were: Maude Bonner, Clara Comstock, Nettie Goodale Murdoch, Elizabeth Peckham, Anne T. Weeden, and Mary Emma Woolley. Their classes were held at a grammar school that had once been associated with Brown. After the boys went home at two o’clock, the women arrived to learn from their professors in a classroom on the second floor. The school had no lights, so the women worked until the daylight was too dim to read by. One of the major advocates for admitting women to Brown University, Sarah Doyle, raised $75,000 to build the first permanent building for Brown's new female students; named Pembroke Hall, this structure would be renamed Pembroke College in 1928. Official recognition of the college as a body of the university came in 1896. The college received its own faculty in 1903. By 1910, 40% of students were from outside Rhode Island.

Deans of Pembroke College

Later history and coeducation

In 1928, the Women's College was renamed "Pembroke College in Brown University" in honor of Pembroke College at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Roger Williams, one of the founders of Rhode Island, was an alumnus of Cambridge's Pembroke. Due to this, one of the buildings on Brown's campus had been named "Pembroke Hall." This was the building on the Brown

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-li ...

where most "Pembrokers," as Women's College students were already known, attended classes. The Women's College had also already been using the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of Cambridge's Pembroke for formal decoration on programs and pins. In 1931 Pembroke College began a nursing program with the

Rhode Island Hospital Rhode Island Hospital is a private, not-for-profit hospital located in the Upper South Providence neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island. It is the largest academic medical center in the region, affiliated with Brown University since 1959. As ...

Training School for Nurses to train women to teach in nursing school. The "coordinate" status of Pembroke College was valued because it allowed women to take courses with Brown students yet still experience the characteristics of

single-sex education Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

. This included a separate student government, separate newspaper and separate social clubs. In 1969, students from Pembroke and Brown began living in shared dormitories. Since women students had been attending classes and participating in extracurricular activities at Brown for some time, the Advisory and Executive Council proposed a merger between the colleges. On July 1, 1971, the merger became official, with all undergraduate students being admitted to and attending the same college. In 1981, the

Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women The Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women was established in 1981 at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, as an interdisciplinary research center focused on gender and women. In addition to research, the center is home to arc ...

was established at Brown, billing itself as a "center for interdisciplinary research on gender and society." Its mission also includes the preservation of the history of women at Brown. Affiliated with the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, it is home to the university's

Gender Studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...

program and publishes the

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

''differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies''. The Pembroke Center has also sponsored the digitization of the Pembroke College newspaper "The Pembroke Record" which can be accessed on line. Although Brown became a fully coeducational institution with the merger, the history of women at Brown was still evolving. On September 3, 1991, Jill Ker Conway, the president of the all-female Smith College, delivered the opening convocation address to the student body in celebration of Brown's 100 years of women on campus. A four-day symposium was also held in October of that year in order to discuss women's issues, with

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

Mary Robinson delivering the

keynote address A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework f ...

. At the time of the merger, only 25% of the undergraduate students were women. By the 2005-2006

academic year An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study. School holiday School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which sch ...

, 51% of students at Brown University were female.

Notable alumnae

The first graduates were Mary Emma Woolley and Anne Tillinghast Weeden in 1894. In early graduation

programs Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Progra ...

, the names of the female graduates were listed in a special section below those of men. This list is in alphabetical order, by surname. * Elinor B. Bachrach (A.B. 1965), former Senior Fiscal Advisor,

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

(USAID) *

Charlotta Bass Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass (February 14, 1874 – April 12, 1969) was an American educator, newspaper publisher-editor, and civil rights activist. She also focused on various other issues such as housing rights, voting rights, and labor right ...

, African-American educator, newspaper publisher-editor, and civil rights activist. She was the first Black female vice presidential nominee in the 1952 election, as a candidate of the Progressive Party. Attended Pembroke but did not graduate * Haiganush R. Bedrosian (A.B. 1965), attorney; former Chief Justice, Rhode Island Family Court *

Susan Bennett Susan Alice Bennett (née Cameron, born July 31, 1949) is an American voice actress and a former backup singer for Roy Orbison and Burt Bacharach. She is best known as the female American voice of Apple's Siri personal assistant, since the s ...

(A.B. 1971), voice actress best known as the voice of Apple Inc.'s Siri *

Dana Buchman Dana Buchman was an upscale men's and women's fashion brand. Its founder, Dana Buchman, is an American fashion designer. The brand, which was most recently carried by Kohl's, was discontinued in 2020. History Dana Buchman has been a member of t ...

Farber (A.B. 1973), fashion designer and activist * Susan Cheever (A.B. 1965), author and columnist * Kitty Chen (A.B. 1966), playwright and actress *

Lyn Crost Lyn Crost (1915 in Brooklyn, New York – 1997 in Washington, D.C.) was a World War II correspondent and author. Education Eleanor Elizabeth Crost, who was known professionally as Lyn Crost, was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 19, ...

(A.B 1938), journalist,

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

correspondent, and author. * Alice Drummond (A.B. 1950),

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

-nominated actress * Katherine G. Farley (A.B. 1971), architect; former Chairwoman,

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

for the Performing Arts * Kathryn S. Fuller (A.B. 1967), businesswoman; former Chair, The Ford Foundation * Laura Geller (A.B. 1971), Senior Rabbi Emerita, Temple Emanuel * Lillian Moller Gilbreth (Ph.D. 1915), psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator * Robin Green (A.B. 1967),

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

-winning writer and producer * Penelope Hartland-Thunberg (A.B. 1940, PhD Hon.'66), economist; former member,

United States Tariff Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It is an independent, bipartisan entity that analyze ...

* Marianne Hirsch (A.B. 1970, Ph.D. 1975), William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature,

; and Professor, Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality * Constance Hunting (A.B. 1947), poet and publisher * Ruth Hussey (A.B. 1936),

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated actress best known for her performance in '' The Philadelphia Story'' * Judith Jacobson (A.B. 1964), Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology,

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health The Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Columbia University. Located on the Columbia University Medical Center campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, the school ...

Helen Johns Helen Johns (born April 24, 1953) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003 and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris a ...

(A.B. 1936), retired competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder * Martha Sharp Joukowsky (A.B. 1958), Professor of Archaeology, Brown University; former President, Archaeological Institute of America; and director of archaeological excavations of the Great Temple at Petra * Lois Lowry (1958, LITTD '14Hon), Newbery Medal-winning author best known for ''

The Giver ''The Giver'' is a 1993 American young adult dystopian novel written by Lois Lowry, set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses. In the novel, the society has taken away p ...

'' * Linda Mason Aminoff (A.B. 1964),

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning producer; former Vice President,

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 4 ...

* Martha K. Matzke (A.B. 1966), co-founder and former executive editor, '' Education Week'' * Emily Arnold McCully (A.B. 1961, LITTD 2002Hon), Caldecott Award-winning children's author best known for ''

Mirette on the High Wire ''Mirette on the High Wire'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Published in 1992, the book tells the story of Mirette, a French girl who learns to walk on the tightrope. McCully won the 1993 Caldecott M ...

'' * Kristie Miller (A.B. 1966), author of books on women and politics best known for

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

television series '' First Ladies: Influence & Image'' * Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy (A.B. 1973, A.M. 1973), Chair,

Slavic Department. *

Albina Osipowich Albina Lucy Charlotte Osipowich (February 26, 1911 – June 6, 1964), later known by her married name Albina Van Aken, was an American competition swimmer who won gold medals in the women's 100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle relay at ...

(A.B. 1933), retired competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder *

Maureen Paley Maureen Paley (born 1953Sleeman, Elizabeth (ed.) ''The International Who's Who of Women'' (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), p. 431. Entry on Paley available as snippet viehere/ref>) is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Be ...

(A.B. 1975), contemporary art gallery owner * Jane Pincus (A.B. 1959), author best known for '' Our Bodies, Ourselves'' * Eliza Greene Metcalf Radeke (A.B. 1914), art collector; former President,

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

(RISD) * Vicki Robin (A.B. 1967), author best known for ''Your Money or Your Life'' * Marilynne Robinson (A.B. 1966),

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

-winning author * Susan Salms-Moss (A.B. 1967), opera soprano singer and translator * Martha Sharp-Cogan (A.B. 1926), philanthropist named Righteous Among the Nations for helping hundreds of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

escape

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

* Leah Sprague (A.B. 1966), current Judge, Newburyport Massachusetts District Court * Wendy Strothman (A.B. 1972, LHD 2008), publisher,

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as James B ...

; and

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

* Anna Canada Swain (A.B. 1911), author; member, Brown University Board of Trustees * Gwyneth Walker (A.B. 1968), composer; undergraduate director, The Chattertocks of Brown University * Betsy West (A.B. 1973), video journalist, filmmaker and

-winning producer; former Vice President,

JoBeth Williams Margaret JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an American actress and television director. Her directorial debut with the 1994 short film ''On Hope'' earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. In 2009 she bega ...

(A.B. 1970), actress and

-nominated filmmaker * Mary Emma Woolley (A.B. 1894, M.A. 1895), educator, peace and women's suffrage activist; former President,

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

Janet Yellen Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. Yellen is ...

(A.B. 1967), economist; current Treasury Secretary, U.S. Treasury Department; former Chair,

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the m ...

; Trefethen Professor Emeritus of Business Administration,

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as Berkeley Haas, is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a public universit ...

; and Professor Emeritus of Economics,

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File:Portrait of Charlotta Bass, Providence ( ), ca. 1901-1910 (scl-mss064-0451~1) retouched (cropped).jpg,

, first African-American woman nominated for Vice President File:Mary Emma Woolley (1863-1947).png, Mary Emma Woolley 1894, peace activist, 11th President of

Mount Holyoke Mount Holyoke, a traprock mountain, elevation , is the westernmost peak of the Holyoke Range and part of the 100-mile (160 km) Metacomet Ridge. The mountain is located in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, and is the ...

File:Lois Lowry 2016.jpg, Lois Lowry '58 Newbery Medal-winning author of ''

'' File:Secretary Janet Yellen portrait (cropped).jpg,

'67, 78th

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

File:Marianne Hirsch and Bella Brodzki (cropped, Hirsch).jpg, Marianne Hirsch '70 author and professor of feminist theory

References

Citations

General sources

*
Brown University: At a Glance
" The College Board. 2006. *

" July 24, 2001. National Council for Research on Women. *
Pembroke Center: About Us
. Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women.

External links

Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women

Pembroke College
- Encyclopedia Brunoniana
Brown University
at the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

' {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1891 Brown University Defunct private universities and colleges in Rhode Island Embedded educational institutions Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island Education in Providence, Rhode Island Educational institutions disestablished in 1971 1891 establishments in Rhode Island Liberal arts colleges in Rhode Island