The university named its residence communities after a diverse array of women, including those engaged in history, athletics, education, medicine, and philanthropy. Many of these honorees had attended U-M in the first decades after it began admitting women. As part of this “dangerous experiment,” they had surmounted the usual challenges of coursework and social life while also navigating prejudice from male students and professors.

Many of the honorees studied in the medical school. Others went on to be teachers and professors. A final set were known for their social leadership at U-M: their support for women students, their work in alumnae affairs, or the prominent role that their husband played in the university. Nearly all worked in some way or another on behalf of women’s issues. Their intelligence, dedication, and perseverance make them deserving of recognition today.

Doctors		Eliza Mosher Amanda Sanford Hickey Bertha Van Hoosen Alice Hamilton
Teachers		Alice Freeman Palmer Caroline Hubbard Kleinstuck Katharine Coman Mary Louise Hinsdale Lucile Bailey Conger
Social Leaders		Mary Butler Markley  Myra Beach Jordan  Alice Crocker Lloyd Orma Fitch Butler Sara Spencer Brown Margery Knowlton Bursley Sarah Caswell Angell

Image Credits:

1. “Five nursing students outside Couzens Hall / ‘With all of Life before us’,” Margaret Huey Scrapbook.
2.  “Female students in dissection room,” ca. 1893, Medical School Records.
3. “Professor Hazel ‘Doc’ Losch, teaching astronomy class,” ca. 1970, Virginia Stewart Nicklas Collection.
4. “Martha Cook 25th Anniversary Tea,” 12 October 1940, Ivory Photo Photograph Collection.