125 Years of Women at Dickinson
March 2, 2010
The winter 2010 issue of Dickinson Magazine celebrated the 125th anniversary of women at Dickinson.On September 10, 1884, Zatae Longsdorff, Elizabeth Bender and Hildegarde Longsdorff signed the student matriculation book at Dickinson College. The legacy of success that these scholars, and the women who followed, have given the college and the world will be honored with a series of events. Monday, March 8—International Women’s Day—and Tuesday, March 9, Dickinson College will host “Celebrating 125 Years of Women at Dickinson: A Legacy of Success.” Hosted by Board Of Trustees Chair Jennifer Ward Reynolds '77 , this milestone celebration includes an open house, panels' with students and alumnae, a reception and a tribute to Zatae Longsdorff.
Monday, March 8 kicks off with a panel discussion featuring Muska Assad of The Initiative to Educate Afghan Women at 7 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room.
Tuesday, March 9 begins with an 8:30 a.m. Women’s Center Open House, Landis House, 101 South College Street (corner of Pomfret and College). At 9:30 a.m., in the Social Hall West, Women’s Center Director Susannah Bartlow will speak, immediately followed by an alumnae panel discussion and Q&A: Women in Leadership Roles. The participants in the panel are Rhonda Weiner Ebert '76, senior vice president and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley; Kellie Newton '81, partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP; Hon. Sylvia Rambo '58, judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and Linda Goodridge Steckley '63, senior director of educational opportunities at The Brookings Institution.
At 2 p.m. in the Stafford Auditorium (Stuart 1104) located in the Rector Science Complex, there will be a panel discussion and Q&A: “Women in Science”. The participants in this discussion are Mary Rose Cassa '76, senior engineering geologist at the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Control Board; Kristina Cole '92, M.D., Ph.D., Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Barbara Stauch Slusher '86, Ph.D., M.B.A., chief scientific officer at Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute NeuroTranslation Program, and Marjorie Speers ’78, Ph.D., president and CEO at the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc.
On Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. the day will conclude with a reception and the unveiling of the Zatae Longsdorff historical panel in the Atrium in Rector Science Complex.
This conference is one event in 2009-2010 that marks this important anniversary. The yearlong celebration calendar finds its roots in 2008, when the college's archives staff and feminist student leaders offered a Hands-on History program featuring artifacts, images, scrapbooks and documents related to women at Dickinson. These community members recognized that the fall of 2009 would mark the 125th anniversary of the enrollment of the first female students at Dickinson.
With support from the newly established Women’s Center (an office of Student Development) and other college partners, this realization grew into a yearlong commemoration calendar to celebrate achievements, raise silenced voices, and develop the future of Dickinson women. The archives now hosts “Hurrah for Coeducation,” an exhibit that has expanded upon the possibilities of the original interactive display.
The winter 2010 issue of Dickinson Magazine celebrated the 125th anniversary of women at Dickinson. You also can read profiles of the alumnae who participated in the panels.