Western College for Women

Western College for Women

Clawson Hall
Type	Women's College
Active	1855–1974
Location	Oxford , Ohio , United States

Western College for Women was a women's college in Oxford, Ohio between 1855 and 1974.

History

Lilian Wyckoff Johnson. Was the first woman to receive a doctorate from Cornell University and served as President of Western College 1904—1906.

Western College was founded in 1853 as Western Female Seminary and had 350 acres. It was a daughter school of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Its first principal Helen Peabody and most of the early faculty had been students and teachers at Mount Holyoke. Mary Lyon Residence Hall on the Western campus is named for Mount Holyoke's founder, Mary Lyon.

Western remained an independent women's college until 1970 when it formed a "committee of cooperation" with the adjacent Miami University, which opened enrollment between the colleges on a limited basis. This allowed Western students to take classes at Miami and use Miami's computer and hospital facilities, for example, while allowing Miami students access to intramural fields, library space, and cross-country runways on Western grounds. Before the 1973-74 school years, both presidents signed an agreement for an affiliation between the two schools. In 1974, Western became part of Miami.

Notable alumnae

• Margaret Caroline Anderson (1886–1973), founder-editor The Little Review
• Mary Letitia Caldwell, winner of the Garvan Medal for chemistry
• Ameerah Haq, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Ann Marcus, television writer
• Hank Phillippi Ryan, Boston TV reporter, winner of 26 Emmys, and bestselling author of Charlotte McNally mystery series
• Donna Shalala, President of University of Miami (Florida); former US Secretary of Health and Human Services (under President Bill Clinton)

Civil rights movement

In June 1964 a civil rights demonstration orientation program for Freedom Summer was held at Western College. Three volunteers, including one recently trained at Western, were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi . Public uproar helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act a few months later.

Western today

In 1974, the Western College for Women merged with Miami University and became the Western College Program (School of Interdisciplinary Studies). In 2007, the Western College Program was integrated into the College of Arts and Sciences and is now known as the Western Program at Miami University.

See also

• List of current and historical women's universities and colleges
• Alumnae Hall (Miami University)
• Hoyt Hall (Miami, Ohio)
• Kumler Chapel
• Langstroth Cottage
• Mary Lyon Residence Hall
• Peabody Hall (Miami University, Ohio)

External links

• Western History from Ohiohistorycentral.org
• Western Female Seminary records, 1863-1973
• The Western Round-Up Student Newspaper