Lucy Ward Stebbins (1880January 31, 1955) was the Dean of Women at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Biography

Lucy Ward Stebbins was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1880. She was the daughter of Horatio Stebbins, pastor of the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco and a regent of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...

. She matriculated at Berkeley and later transferred to

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 he ...

to receive her A.B. degree. She graduated from Radcliffe in 1902 and worked in Massachusetts as a social worker until 1910, when she returned to Berkeley to become Assistant Dean of Women. In 1912, the former dean, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, retired and Stebbins was appointed Dean of Women. Stebbins gave the

commencement speech A commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions and in similar institutions around the world. The commencemen ...

at Radcliffe College in 1921. Stebbins served Berkeley for thirty years. During her time in office, she increased the enrollment of women from 1,200 to 6,400 by raising money for scholarships and expanding curriculum. Stebbins also encouraged women to participate in student government and created housing opportunities. During her tenure, the schools of Nursing and Social welfare were established, as well as the departments of Home Economics and Decorative Arts. Stebbins also founded the Women's Faculty Club, one of the earliest female faculty organizations to exist at a co-ed university. Upon conferring an honorary LL.D award to her in 1953, President

Robert Gordon Sproul Robert Gordon Sproul (May 22, 1891 – September 10, 1975) was the first system-wide president (1952–1958) of the University of California system, and the last president (11th) of the University of California, Berkeley, serving from 1930 to ...

described Lucy Ward as “a teacher and dean... who saw clearly into the hearts and minds of students, and stimulated them by precept and example to achieve their highest potential. No single individual has contributed more than you to the personal and general welfare of the University's women, and few have touched helpfully so many phases of our University life."

Berkeley Student Cooperative The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) (formerly known as University Students' Cooperative Association or the USCA) is a student housing cooperative serving primarily UC Berkeley students, but open to any full-time post-secondary student. The ...

Stebbins Hall Stebbins Hall is a student housing cooperative owned by Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) and located at 2527 Ridge Road in Berkeley, California, on the Northside of the University of California, Berkeley campus. The house has a total occupanc ...

is named for her. Stebbins was the honored guest and speaker at the Stebbins Institute in 1942, which took place at Stebbins Hall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stebbins, Lucy Ward 1880 births 1955 deaths American social workers People from San Francisco Radcliffe College alumni University of California, Berkeley staff Educators from California American women educators Deans of women 20th-century American academics