OVER THIRTY YEARS OF WOMEN CHANGING
A Timeline of Women's History at
March 1973-Women’s
1972-73 Undergraduate population: women 3541, men 4945
1973- Prof. Mary Daly (Theology) publishes Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation
1973- Jane M. Osborne (A&S ‘75)--first female winner of the
1974-
1974- Joan Quinlan (A&S ‘76) is the first female Editor-in-Chief of The Heights
1975- Margaret Dwyer becomes first female Vice-President at
1977-78- Undergraduate population: women 5437, men 4850
1979- Valerie Lewis (SON ‘79) co-creates term AHANA (African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American)
1980- Tamie Thompson Burke (A&S ’80)-- helps organize the women’s soccer and lacrosse programs, which became varsity sports in her junior year; earned Boston College’s Eagle of the Year; inducted into Varsity Club Hall of Fame and in 1989-90 became the Varsity Club’s first female president
1981-82- Joanne Caruso (A&S ‘82)--first female President of UGBC
1982- Darcel Clark (A&S ‘83)-- --wins first MLK Scholarship
1982- Women’s
1982- Career and Lifestyle Aspirations of
1982-83- Undergraduate population: women 6132, men 4397
1983- Women’s Studies minor established--Prof. Judith Wilt (English) is first director
1983- Women’s
1983- Mary K. Casey (A&S ‘83) is the first
1984- Tenth anniversary of the Women in Politics and Government Program
1987- UGBC establishes Women’s Issues Vice-President position--Carolyn Dever (A&S ‘88) is appointed to the position
1987- Eating Patterns and Eating Disorders Among
1987- Katie Molumphy-McNamara (A&S ‘87)--selected as BIG EAST Conference’s Female Athlete of the Decade for tennis; also inducted into Boston College’s Varsity Club Hall of Fame
1987-88- Undergraduate population: women 5914, men 4544
1989- Yvonne Encarnacao (A&S ‘89) is the first winner of the Janet Wilson James Award for scholarship in women’s studies, given in memory of the first historian of women on the
1989-
1990- Feminist Ghost published (a women’s newspaper published by interested students)
1990- Theresa Shanahan Czeisler (A&S ‘90)--
1991- Founding of the National Association of Women in Catholic Higher Education by Prof. Sharlene Hesse-Biber (Sociology)
1991- Establishment of the first University Discriminatory Harrassment Policy. Alice Jeghelian, Director of Professional Development for Human Resources, becomes the first University Harrassment Counselor
1992- First edition of Laughing Medusa (a women’s literary magazine published by UGBC Women’s Issues)
1992- Initiatives--special issue on Feminism on a Catholic Campus published by the National Association for Women in Education--articles by
1992- Mary Lou Delong (
1992-93- Undergraduate population: women 4819, men 4221
1993- Sexual Assault Network hotline and advocates program established
1993- Sara Behn (A&S ‘93)--BC’s all-time leading scorer in basketball with 2,523 points; also BIG EAST’s all-time scoring leader
1994- Cecilia Gutierrez (A&S ‘95) is first AHANA woman to become UGBC Executive Vice-President
1995- Wenyu Ho (A&S ‘95)--first female student from BC
1995- Julie Obear (A&S ‘95)--recipient of 1995 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship; earned
1995- Danielle Forgione (A&S ‘97) is the first woman Eagle mascot
1995- Two trustees, Susan Gianinno (‘70) and Mary Steele Guilfoile (‘76) are asked by President J. Donald Monan, S.J., to chair Task Force on Women and Boston College, to investigate alumnae’s attitudes towards Boston College.
1995- Faculty/student panel discussion is held on the document, Jesuits and the Situation of Women in Church and Civil Society, released by the 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus
1997- Autumn Davis (A&S 98) is the first female Chairperson of the UGBC Senate
1997-98- Undergraduate population: women 4736, men 4185
1997- Two art shows at the
Original Visions: Shifting the Paragdigm, Women’s Art 1970-96
Re/Dressing Cathleen: Contemporary Works from Irish Women Artists
2000- Cheryl L. Presley becomes the third female Vice-President at
2000- Helen F. Peters becomes the first female Dean of the
2000- Grace Cotter Regan becomes the first female Executive Director of the Alumni Association
2000- Shannon Smith (A&S ‘00) wins the indoor 3,000-meter NCAA cross country championship, which is the first time that a BC female student-athlete wins an NCAA Championship
2001- Ladies in Business (a student organization) is started by Amanda L. Kuhl (CSOM ’03) and Corrin D. Silver (CSOM ’03)
2002- The Council for Women of
2003- Jennifer Tilghman-Havens becomes the first full-time Director of the Women’s
Information compiled by Jean Yoder, Asst. Dean
Office of the Dean for Student Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
This document was originally published in March 1998 in conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of the Women’s