Stories

1922 – School of Law and School of Commerce and Finance admit women.

1943 – Women students admitted to the Day Colleges.

1948 – Mary Ellen Chase—regarded as one of the most important literary figures of the early twentieth century—receives an honorary doctorate from Northeastern.

1950 – American scholar, educator, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Margaret Clapp receives an honorary doctorate from Northeastern.

1956 – American writer best known for her biographies, Catherine Drinker Bowen receives an honorary doctorate from Northeastern.

1969 – Elizabeth Duncan Koontz—the first African American president of the National Education Association and director of the United States Department of Labor Women’s Bureau—receives an honorary doctorate from Northeastern.

1968 –  Women’s basketball, field hockey, and lacrosse teams added to the varsity roster.

1974 – Barbara Newell—the first female chancellor of the State University System of Florida—receives an honorary doctorate from Northeastern.

1977 – Russell E. Call children’s center opened, providing day care.

1980 – Women’s Studies program initiated.

1981 – Women in Engineering, Women in Science, and Women in Information Systems programs formed.

1990 – Jane Scarborough becomes Northeastern’s first woman vice president, leading cooperative education.

1992 – Poet Maya Angelou—the first black woman to be featured on a U.S. quarter— receives an honorary doctorate from Northeastern.

2004 – The field hockey team, the women’s indoor track team, the swimming and diving team, and the men’s and women’s outdoor track team are all American East Conference champions.

2014 – Kendall Coyne of Northeastern University women’s hockey team named to US Women’s Olympic Hockey Team.