Lana Oconnell
Harvard University has a long and complex history, dating back to its founding in 1636. Since its establishment, Harvard has been associated with educational advancement, innovative leadership, and groundbreaking scholarship. However, the question of who was the first student at Harvard University is a complex one and depends on the context and specific achievements being considered. For example, in 1879, Harvard College, which is the undergraduate school within Harvard University, began admitting women, with Radcliffe College serving as the female counterpart. In 1945, Harvard Medical School admitted its first class of women, marking another significant milestone in the diversification of Harvard's student body. Additionally, in 1886, Harvard celebrated its 250th anniversary, indicating that the university has a long history of educating students that extends back to its early years of operation.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First Native American student | Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck |
| First Black student | Richard Theodore Greener |
| First Black female graduate of Radcliffe College | Alberta Virginia Scott |
| First female faculty member | Helen Maud Cam |
| First woman member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to be promoted to full professor | Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin |
| First woman appointed to Harvard's Presidency | Drew Faust |
| First woman and first Black person of color to be dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences | Claudine Gay |
| First person of color appointed as President of Harvard University | Claudine Gay |
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What You'll Learn
- The first woman faculty member at Harvard was Alice Hamilton in 1918
- Harvard's first female president was Drew Gilpin Faust in 2007
- Harvard College was founded in 1636 and named after John Harvard
- The first Native American student graduated from Harvard in the 1640s
- Harvard's first female undergraduates were enrolled at Radcliffe College
The first woman faculty member at Harvard was Alice Hamilton in 1918
Harvard University has a long and complex history concerning women. While women participated in the University community from its founding in 1636 as family members of faculty, administrators, and students, they had no academic opportunities until the late 19th century.
In 1890, Scottish-American astronomer Williamina Fleming was part of an all-woman team of human "computers" at the Harvard College Observatory. However, it wasn't until 1918 that Alice Hamilton became the first female faculty member at Harvard.
In 1922, Lorna M. Hodgkinson became the first woman to earn a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, which was established in 1920 as the first Harvard graduate school to enroll women. In 1948, Helen Maud Cam became the first female faculty member to gain tenure at Harvard, and in 1956, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin became the first woman in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to be promoted to full professor. Payne-Gaposchkin later became the first female head of a department at Harvard.
Harvard has continued to break new ground concerning female representation in the 21st century. In 2006, the University opened its Women's Center, and the following year, Drew Faust became Harvard's first female president, serving from 2007 to 2018. In 2018, Claudine Gay was appointed as the first woman and the first Black person of colour to be Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In 2023, Gay became the first person of colour appointed as President of Harvard University.
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Harvard's first female president was Drew Gilpin Faust in 2007
Harvard University's first female president was Drew Gilpin Faust, who served from 2007 to 2018. Faust was born in New York City on September 18, 1947, and raised in Clarke County, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. Her father bred thoroughbred horses, and her paternal grandfather, Kenneth Newcomer Gilpin, was a businessman and aviator in both World Wars. Faust graduated from Concord (Massachusetts) Academy in 1964 and received a B.A. in history magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College in 1968. She earned an M.A. (1971) and a Ph.D. (1975) in American civilisation from the University of Pennsylvania, where she later joined the faculty as an assistant professor.
Faust was a specialist in the history of the American South in the antebellum period and the Civil War. She rose to become the Walter Annenberg Professor of History and authored six books, including Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996), for which she won the Society of American Historians Francis Parkman Prize and the Avery O. Craven Award from the Organisation of American Historians in 1997. Her other works include a biography of James Henry Hammond, governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1844, and This Republic of Suffering (2008), an exploration of how the Civil War shaped Americans' understanding of death. Faust has also been recognised for her distinguished teaching, having received awards in 1982 and 1996.
In 2001, Faust was appointed the first dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, which was established after Radcliffe College merged with Harvard University. On February 8, 2007, Faust was selected as the next president of Harvard University, becoming the first woman and the first person without a degree from Harvard since 1672 to hold the position. She was also the first Harvard president to have been raised in the South. In her installation address on October 12, 2007, Faust emphasised the long-term impact of a university education, stating:
> A university is not about results in the next quarter; it is not even about who a student has become by graduation. It is about learning that molds a lifetime, learning that transmits the heritage of millennia; learning that shapes the future.
During her tenure, Faust significantly increased financial aid offers to students at Harvard College. On December 10, 2007, she announced a new policy for middle-class and upper-middle-class students, limiting parental contributions to 10% for families earning between $100,000 and $180,000 annually and replacing loans with grants. Faust also supervised a major campus expansion in Boston and continued work on a substantial revision of the undergraduate curriculum. However, she faced criticism for her handling of layoffs and pay freezes in 2009 after Harvard's endowment suffered losses during the global financial crisis. Faust's refusal to accept a pay cut drew particular scrutiny, with reports indicating that she earned $775,043 in the 2007–2008 school year. Nevertheless, Faust was recognised for her contributions, ranking among Forbes' list of the world's most powerful women and receiving the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity from the Library of Congress in 2018.
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Harvard College was founded in 1636 and named after John Harvard
Harvard College was founded on October 28, 1636, in what was then called New Towne, later renamed Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the first college in the American colonies. The college was founded by a vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which approved £400 for the establishment of "a schoale or colledge". The following year, the Great and General Court ordered the college to be located at Newetowne (renamed "Cambridge" in 1638).
In 1639, the college was named Harvard College in honour of Puritan clergyman John Harvard, an alumnus of the University of Cambridge. John Harvard was the college's first major benefactor, and he donated half of his estate and his library of over 400 books to the school. Upon his death, the school was renamed in recognition of his generosity.
Harvard College originally opened as New College, and it was renamed two years after its founding. John Harvard was an English pastor who moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 to help manage his struggles with tuberculosis. Unfortunately, the new environment did not improve his health, and he died from consumption just a year after arriving in the colony.
Since its founding, Harvard has created a legacy of educational advancement, innovative leadership, and groundbreaking scholarly work. The college has produced notable alumni, including 8 US presidents, 24 heads of state, and 31 heads of government.
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The first Native American student graduated from Harvard in the 1640s
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, born around 1644, was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University. He was a member of the Wampanoag tribe on Martha's Vineyard and received a formal education. Cheeshahteaumuck and his classmate Joel Hiacoomes were taught on the Vineyard by Peter Folger, the maternal grandfather of Benjamin Franklin. In around 1657, the two entered Elijah Corlet's grammar school in Cambridge.
Cheeshahteaumuck and Hiacoomes entered Harvard's Indian College in 1661. Hiacoomes died in a shipwreck while returning to Harvard from Martha's Vineyard a few months before graduation. In 1665, Cheeshahteaumuck became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard. Unfortunately, he died of tuberculosis in Watertown, Massachusetts, less than a year after graduation.
Harvard's Indian College stood in Harvard Yard from 1655 to 1698. Despite the University's pledge in its Charter of 1650 to actively facilitate the education of American Indian youth, it was not until 1970 that a program was specifically established to address Native American issues. That year, the American Indian Program (AIP) emerged on campus, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education (HGSE) enrolled 11 Native Americans in its master's degree program—the highest number of Native students since the mid-1600s.
Geraldine Brooks' historical novel, 'Caleb's Crossing', tells the story of Harvard's first Native American graduate through the eyes of Bethia Mayfield, a young girl who becomes friends with Caleb. The novel paints a vivid picture of colonial life in Eastern Massachusetts and explores the complex relationship between the colonists and the Native Americans.
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Harvard's first female undergraduates were enrolled at Radcliffe College
Harvard University was established in 1636, but women were not admitted as students until two centuries later. While women participated in the university community from its founding, they were mostly family members of faculty, administrators, and students. They also took on roles as cooks, sweepers, librarians, and administrators.
In 1879, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz founded the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women, known as "the Harvard Annex". By 1890, over 200 women were enrolled in the program. In 1894, the program was renamed Radcliffe College and was granted an official charter by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with Agassiz serving as its first president. Despite this progress, Harvard continued to refuse to admit women as students or recognize them in any official academic roles.
During World War II, Radcliffe students were temporarily permitted to enroll in all courses at Harvard College, marking the first time women were allowed in Harvard classrooms. In 1948, Helen Maud Cam became the first female faculty member to receive tenure at Harvard. In 1956, astronomy professor Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin became the first woman in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to be promoted to full professor and later became the first female department head at Harvard.
In 1963, the Radcliffe Graduate School merged with Harvard's, and Radcliffe undergraduates began receiving Harvard University diplomas signed by both presidents. In 1967, Lamont Library allowed women access to its stacks for the first time. The first joint Harvard and Radcliffe commencement was held in 1970, and the following year, all Harvard and Radcliffe houses became co-ed.
While the merger of Radcliffe and Harvard was a significant step forward, it did not erase the memories of Harvard's historical indifference to women. Many Radcliffe alumnae continue to advocate for increasing female representation at the university. Radcliffe College was fully dissolved in 1999, and women ceased to have two signatures on their diplomas. In 2006, Harvard College opened its Women's Center, and in 2007, Drew Faust became the first woman appointed to Harvard's presidency.
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Frequently asked questions
Harvard University did not teach women until 1879. However, women participated in the University community from its founding in 1636 as family members of faculty, administrators, and students. The first woman to be appointed to Harvard's faculty was Alice Hamilton, in 1918.
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (c. 1644–1666) was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University, in 1665. He received a formal education, studying under the maternal grandfather of Benjamin Franklin, before attending Harvard's Indian College in 1661.
The first Black students at Harvard are thought to be David Laing, Jr., Isaac H. Snowden, and Martin R. Delany, who were admitted to Harvard Medical School in 1850. However, the name of Thomas Jinnings, Jr. was discovered in an 1841 Harvard catalogue, and Beverly Garnett Williams was admitted to Harvard College in 1847, so it is possible that there were Black students at Harvard before Laing, Snowden, and Delany.
Helen Maud Cam became the first female faculty member to be tenured at Harvard in 1948. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was the first woman in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to be promoted to full professor, in 1956, and later became the first female department head at Harvard.
Drew Faust was the first woman to be appointed President of Harvard University, serving from 2007 to 2018.
