About Virginia Tech

History of Women at Virginia Tech

Highlights

• 1921: Women first enroll as full-time students.
• 1923: Mary Brumfield receives first VPI degree awarded to a woman.
• 1925: First class of coeds graduates. Coeds produce first Tin Horn.
• 1929: First bachelor's degrees are awarded in home economics.
• 1940: Hillcrest opens as first residence hall for women.
• 1944: Radford College becomes Women's Division of VPI.
• 1953: Betty Delores Stough becomes first woman to receive a Ph.D. from VPI .
• 1959: Patricia Ann Miller is first woman to receive an ROTC Commission.
• 1960: Laura Jane Harper is appointed dean of two-campus School of Home Economics.
• 1964: Radford College and VPI officially separate.
• 1965: Audrey Rentz is appointed first dean of women.
• 1966: First black women enroll at VPI.
• 1968: Women are allowed to wear slacks on campus.
• 1970: First female intercollegiate athletic team is organized.
• 1972: Slusher Hall opens to house women.
• 1973: Corps of cadets admits first female cadets.
• 1974: Jean Harshbarger is first female to be elected class president. Louise Bates and Johnnie Miles become first black female faculty members.
• 1978: Women's Network initiates campus-wide activities.
• 1980: Marva Felder is first black woman to be crowned Homecoming Queen.
• 1982: First Women's Week celebration is held. Office of Women in Development is established. Sandra Sullivan is first woman appointed vice president.
• 1987: Denise Shuster becomes first woman to serve as regimental commander.
• 1988: Women's Studies Program is established.
• 1989: Women's Research Institute is established.
• 1993: Lucy Hawk Banks is first woman inducted into Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.
• 1994: Women's Center opens.
• 1995: Peggy Meszaros is appointed senior vice president and provost.