Douglass College (Rutgers University)
Encyclopedia
Douglass Residential College, located in New Brunswick, New Jersey
, is a part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and is the successor of acclaimed Douglass College (originally New Jersey College for Women). It offers a four-year, women-centered community that focuses on developing women's success. While Douglass no longer offers a separate degree, it does provide a variety of opportunities for young women to reside in women-only residence halls, to participate in women-centered organizations and to develop leadership skills.
. It was the largest public women's college in the United States
.
In 2005, Rutgers University President Richard Levis McCormick unveiled plans to merge Douglass College with the University's three other undergraduate liberal arts colleges — Rutgers College
, Livingston College
and University College
— to create the School of Arts and Sciences
. Those plans to merge Douglass with the other colleges proved controversial, resulting in numerous open forums and town hall meetings.
In 2007 Douglass became the Douglass Residential College, a residential college within Rutgers University, as the result of a compromise between those who wanted a complete merger and those who wanted the college to remain as a separate, degree-granting institution.
Douglass students must satisfy all of the academic requirements of Rutgers University as well as requirements specific to DRC. These include the completion of a first-year mission course, “Knowledge and Power: Issues in Women’s Leadership,” participation in an externship program and creation of an “e-porfolio.”
Douglass students may pursue a course of study through any of the undergraduate schools available at Rutgers New Brunswick/Piscataway. These include but are not limited to the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, the Mason Gross School of the Arts and all of the other schools.
Students enrolled at Douglass join a learning community of residential and non-residential women. The college maintains single-sex residence halls and unique living-learning communities.
DC'68: Sculptor
Julia Baxter Bates DC'38: Civil Rights Pioneer
Leonie Brinkema
DC'65: Federal Judge
Elise M. Boulding
NJCW'40: Peace Activist, Nobel Prize nominee
Patricia Smith Campbell DC'63: Chemist, inventor of the transdermal patch
Carol T. Christ
DC'66: President, Smith College
Sandra Clark Consentino DC'59: Documentary director. Winner of 3 Emmys. http://www.consentinofilms.com
Ruth Dill Johnson Crockett NJCW'46: Advocate for women's education, her Johnson
children donated the Ruth Dill Johnson Crockett building on Douglass campus
Janet Evanovich
DC'65: New York Times best-selling author
Edith Morch Faste DC'38: Glass Artist
Sharon Fordham DC'75: CEO, WeightWatchers.com
Jean Griswold NJCW'52: Founder, Griswold Special Care
Elizabeth Cavanna Harrison NJCW'29: Noted author, pen names include: Betty Cavanna, Elizabeth Headley and Betsy Allen.
Barbara J. Krumsiek DC'74: President and CEO, The Calvert Group, Ltd.
John Smith Lockner DC' 03: Received a B.A. in Women's and Gender Studies. Having a sex change in 2000, John Smith Lockner was the first transsexual to graduate from Douglass College.
Susan Ness DC'70: FCC commissioner (1994–2001). President and CEO, Women's Radio Network, LLC.
Janet Norwood DC'45: US Commissioner of Labor Statistics (1979–1991). Past president, American Statistical Association
.
Carole Frandsen St. Mark DC'65: Director, Gerber Scientific
Joanne Yatvin, NJCW'52: President of the National Council of Teachers of English (2006–2007). Author of books and articles for teachers.
Margaret Trumbull Corwin (1934–1955): A graduate of Bryn Mawr with a master’s degree from Yale. It was during Dean Corwin’s tenure that the New Jersey College for Women became Douglass College.
Mary Ingraham Bunting (1955–1960): A graduate of Vassar with advanced degrees in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin. She resigned to become president of Radcliffe.
Ruth Marie Adams (1960–1966): An Adelphi graduate with a doctorate in English from Radcliffe. She resigned to become president of Wellesley.
Margery Somers Foster (1967–1975): A graduate of Wellesley with a doctorate in economics from Radcliffe.
Jewel Plummer Cobb (1976–1981): A graduate of Talladega College in Alabama with advanced degrees in cell biology from New York University. She resigned to become president of California State University at Fullerton.
Mary S. Hartman (1982–1994): A graduate of Swarthmore with an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in history, Mary S. Hartman became a member of the Douglass History Department in 1968 (Institute for Women’s Leadership, 2004, p. 1). She served as director of the Women’s Studies Institute from 1975 to 1977, was named acting dean in 1981, and dean in 1982. She resigned to become director of the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University.
Barbara A. Shailor (1996–2001): A graduate of Wilson College with a master’s degree and doctorate in classics from the University of Cincinnati. She resigned to become Director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. She was appointed the Deputy Provost for the Arts at Yale University in 2003.
Carmen Twillie Ambar (2002–2008): A graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Carmen Twillie Ambar received a law degree from Columbia School of Law and a master’s in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2008, Ambar resigned to become president of Cedar Crest College
in Allentown, PA.
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
, is a part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and is the successor of acclaimed Douglass College (originally New Jersey College for Women). It offers a four-year, women-centered community that focuses on developing women's success. While Douglass no longer offers a separate degree, it does provide a variety of opportunities for young women to reside in women-only residence halls, to participate in women-centered organizations and to develop leadership skills.
History
Douglass was founded as the New Jersey College for Women in 1918 by the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1955, the name was changed to Douglass College in honor of its founder, Mabel Smith DouglassMabel Smith Douglass
Mabel Smith Douglass was the first dean, in 1918 of the New Jersey College for Women. In September 1932 she retired due to ill health. On September 21, 1933, she went rowing on Lake Placid and never returned. She was last seen rowing alone across the lake by servants at a camp she owned...
. It was the largest public women's college in the United States
Women's colleges in the United States
Women's colleges in the United States are single-sex U.S. institutions of higher education that exclude or limit males from admission. They are often liberal arts colleges...
.
In 2005, Rutgers University President Richard Levis McCormick unveiled plans to merge Douglass College with the University's three other undergraduate liberal arts colleges — Rutgers College
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, Livingston College
Livingston College (Rutgers University)
Livingston Campus, originally known as Kilmer Campus, is one of the five campuses that make up Rutgers University's New Brunswick/Piscataway area campus. The campus was originally built to house Livingston College. It is a large campus, although the majority of its land is the undeveloped Rutgers...
and University College
University College (Rutgers University)
University College is an undergraduate constituent college of Rutgers University established in 1934 to serve adult, part-time and non-traditional students...
— to create the School of Arts and Sciences
School of Arts and Sciences (Rutgers University)
The School of Arts and Sciences is an undergraduate constituent school at the New Brunswick-Piscataway area campus of Rutgers University. Established in 2007 from the merger of Rutgers' undergraduate liberal arts colleges and the non-student college known as the "Faculty of Arts and Sciences," the...
. Those plans to merge Douglass with the other colleges proved controversial, resulting in numerous open forums and town hall meetings.
In 2007 Douglass became the Douglass Residential College, a residential college within Rutgers University, as the result of a compromise between those who wanted a complete merger and those who wanted the college to remain as a separate, degree-granting institution.
Douglass students must satisfy all of the academic requirements of Rutgers University as well as requirements specific to DRC. These include the completion of a first-year mission course, “Knowledge and Power: Issues in Women’s Leadership,” participation in an externship program and creation of an “e-porfolio.”
Douglass students may pursue a course of study through any of the undergraduate schools available at Rutgers New Brunswick/Piscataway. These include but are not limited to the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, the Mason Gross School of the Arts and all of the other schools.
Students enrolled at Douglass join a learning community of residential and non-residential women. The college maintains single-sex residence halls and unique living-learning communities.
Notable Alumnae
Alice AycockAlice Aycock
-Biography:Aycock studied at Douglass College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1968. She then went to New York City where she studied for her masters at Hunter College, and where she was taught and supervised by Robert Morris; she graduated in 1971...
DC'68: Sculptor
Julia Baxter Bates DC'38: Civil Rights Pioneer
Leonie Brinkema
Leonie Brinkema
Leonie M. Brinkema is a United States District Court judge, in the Eastern District of Virginia.-Early life and education:...
DC'65: Federal Judge
Elise M. Boulding
Elise M. Boulding
Elise M. Boulding was a Quaker sociologist, and author credited as a major contributor to creating the academic discipline of Peace and Conflict Studies. Her holistic, multidimensional approach to peace research sets her apart as an important scholar and activist in multiple fields...
NJCW'40: Peace Activist, Nobel Prize nominee
Patricia Smith Campbell DC'63: Chemist, inventor of the transdermal patch
Carol T. Christ
Carol T. Christ
Carol Tecla Christ is the president of Smith College. Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, is a liberal arts college and one of the Seven Sisters colleges....
DC'66: President, Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
Sandra Clark Consentino DC'59: Documentary director. Winner of 3 Emmys. http://www.consentinofilms.com
Ruth Dill Johnson Crockett NJCW'46: Advocate for women's education, her Johnson
John Seward Johnson I
John Seward Johnson I was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I . He was also known as J. Seward Johnson, Sr. and Seward Johnson...
children donated the Ruth Dill Johnson Crockett building on Douglass campus
Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to...
DC'65: New York Times best-selling author
Edith Morch Faste DC'38: Glass Artist
Sharon Fordham DC'75: CEO, WeightWatchers.com
Jean Griswold NJCW'52: Founder, Griswold Special Care
Elizabeth Cavanna Harrison NJCW'29: Noted author, pen names include: Betty Cavanna, Elizabeth Headley and Betsy Allen.
Barbara J. Krumsiek DC'74: President and CEO, The Calvert Group, Ltd.
John Smith Lockner DC' 03: Received a B.A. in Women's and Gender Studies. Having a sex change in 2000, John Smith Lockner was the first transsexual to graduate from Douglass College.
Susan Ness DC'70: FCC commissioner (1994–2001). President and CEO, Women's Radio Network, LLC.
Janet Norwood DC'45: US Commissioner of Labor Statistics (1979–1991). Past president, American Statistical Association
American Statistical Association
The American Statistical Association , is the main professional US organization for statisticians and related professions. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest, continuously operating professional society in the United States...
.
Carole Frandsen St. Mark DC'65: Director, Gerber Scientific
Joanne Yatvin, NJCW'52: President of the National Council of Teachers of English (2006–2007). Author of books and articles for teachers.
Deans
Mabel Smith Douglass (1918–1932): A graduate of Barnard College, Mabel Smith Douglass was a leader of the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs.Margaret Trumbull Corwin (1934–1955): A graduate of Bryn Mawr with a master’s degree from Yale. It was during Dean Corwin’s tenure that the New Jersey College for Women became Douglass College.
Mary Ingraham Bunting (1955–1960): A graduate of Vassar with advanced degrees in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin. She resigned to become president of Radcliffe.
Ruth Marie Adams (1960–1966): An Adelphi graduate with a doctorate in English from Radcliffe. She resigned to become president of Wellesley.
Margery Somers Foster (1967–1975): A graduate of Wellesley with a doctorate in economics from Radcliffe.
Jewel Plummer Cobb (1976–1981): A graduate of Talladega College in Alabama with advanced degrees in cell biology from New York University. She resigned to become president of California State University at Fullerton.
Mary S. Hartman (1982–1994): A graduate of Swarthmore with an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in history, Mary S. Hartman became a member of the Douglass History Department in 1968 (Institute for Women’s Leadership, 2004, p. 1). She served as director of the Women’s Studies Institute from 1975 to 1977, was named acting dean in 1981, and dean in 1982. She resigned to become director of the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University.
Barbara A. Shailor (1996–2001): A graduate of Wilson College with a master’s degree and doctorate in classics from the University of Cincinnati. She resigned to become Director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. She was appointed the Deputy Provost for the Arts at Yale University in 2003.
Carmen Twillie Ambar (2002–2008): A graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Carmen Twillie Ambar received a law degree from Columbia School of Law and a master’s in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2008, Ambar resigned to become president of Cedar Crest College
Cedar Crest College
Cedar Crest College is a private liberal arts women's college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. During the 2006-2007 academic year, the college had 1,000 full-time and 800 part-time undergraduates and 85 graduate students...
in Allentown, PA.