A Timeline of PC Women's History
A Timeline of PC Women’s History
The list below celebrates historical highlights and notable firsts from the history of women at PC from 1918 to today.
Is something missing from the list? Email us at marcom@providence.edu.
The Early Years: 1918 – 1967
1918
Although women were not invited to enroll until decades later, the Sisters of the Orders of St. Dominic and Mercy attended the first courses ever offered at Providence College in the fall of 1918.
1926
Eleven women graduated at the first Sisters’ College Commencement. Two Dominican and nine Mercy Sisters were in the class, including several of the pioneering October 1918 students.
For the first time, PC awards an honorary degree (M.A.) to a woman: Mother Mary Matthew Doyle, R.S.M.
1942
The Veridames were formally launched. The all-women group were invested in the well-being of the PC community and was comprised of the spouses and friends of the college’s male students and faculty.
1950
PC held the first commencement for the Summer School of Theology for Religious Women.
1952
Women received graduate degrees for the first time on August 7, 1952.
1953
Agnes C. Burke became the first female to teach a course, How to Read Faster and Better.
1967
Siegrun Folter (Languages) was the first woman appointed to full-time undergraduate faculty.
Coeducation Begins: 1970 – 1976
1970
Providence College leadership vote to admit women to the undergraduate day school.
The College’s first female administrator, Loretta M. Ross, joins the staff as assistant director of admissions and special consultant to the vice president for student relations.
1971
The first female residents move into Aquinas Hall on September 7, 1971.
Helen Bert is named women’s recreation director, which begins a rich history of women’s athletics. She goes on to become an associate director in the athletics department before her retirement in the late 1980s.
Sally J. Thibodeau ’66G is the first woman to be named a dean at PC.
1972
The College Corporation elects its first female member, Alice MacIntosh.
The College’s first intercollegiate team, the “Lady Friars” basketball team, begins competition.
Stephanie Katz ’73 is the first women athlete to represent PC in official athletic contest, the Rhode Island Athletic Association Union indoor track meet.
Friars’ Club membership becomes coed.
Sister Bernadine M. Egleston, O.P. earns a BA in Art becoming the first woman to receive an undergraduate degree from the day school.
1973
The Lady Friars play – and win – their first intercollegiate basketball game, against Southeastern Massachusetts University.
Karen A. Holland and Fay A. Saber Rozovsky become the first women, day-school graduates named summa cum laude.
Catherine Gatens Colon ’75 is named secretary of the Football Club.
Patricia L. Slonina Vieira ’75 is appointed editor of the Alembic, the College’s literary journal.
1974
PC welcomes a female chaplain, Kathleen O’Connor, OP, ’73G.
The first female PC student enrolls in the ROTC Program.
Ann M. Frank ’75 is the first woman editor of The Cowl.
1975
The first coeducational class graduates. Josephine L. Saltzmann is the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from PC.
PC women achieve many firsts at the College, including: president of the Business Club, Mary Ellen Woodmancy Danby ’75; Veritas editor, Ana M. Cabrera ’75; athlete of the year, Lisa Connolly Gilbride’75; Fulbright scholarship, Pamela Chase ’75; National Alumni Award, Barbara J. Quinn Witbeck ’75; Corporation student membership, Barbara M. Jackson ’76; and class president, Susan E. Cancro ’79.
Elaine Shanley (library) is the first female professional to receive tenure at PC, while Leslie E. Straub, O.P. ’83G (anthropology) is the first female faculty member to receive tenure.
1976
Dr. S. Terrie Curran (English) becomes the first woman elected as an academic department chair.
Janine Amelia Andreozzi ’76 and Mary Jane Booker ’76 become the first women to achieve highest rank in their graduating class.
Tragedy and Triumph: 1977 – 1998
1977
Dr. Kathleen (Cerra) Laquale is named the first female athletic trainer at Providence College. She also served as the first coach of the inaugural women’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field program. Her father, John Cerra ’41, was assistant athletic trainer at the same time. They were and remain the first and only father-daughter athletic trainers to work at the same college or university.
A fire in Aquinas Hall on Dec. 13, 1977 tragically claimed the lives of 10 young women.
1978
For the first time, women outnumber men in the freshman class.
Student Congress is led by a women president for the first time: Ellen A. Barnes O’Hare ’79.
1979
PC women third at the Northeast Regional Cross Country Championship (a PC first) and participate in their first cross-country national championship under Coach Cerra.
1980
St. Catherine of Siena Hall becomes the first building at PC named for a woman.
Dr. Elaine O. Chaika (Linguistics) becomes the first women named as a full professor at the College.
Lt. Col. Denise J. Boucher Sullivan ’81 becomes PC’s first female ROTC cadet battalion commander.
The Mal Brown Club names its first women president, Muriel M. Vassett ’71, who is also the first women named as president of any of PC’s alumni association area clubs.
1982
Two members of the women’s track and field team attend the national outdoor championship for the first time.
1984
Helen Bert becomes the first woman inducted into the PC Athletic Hall of Fame.
PC Women’s Ice Hockey Team wins its first Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference trophy and the nation’s #1 rating.
Catherine A. Jahn ’84 becomes the first student to ever achieve a triple major in only four years.
Commodore Grace Hopper, a computer programming pioneer and rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, is PC’s first woman commencement speaker.
1988
Shelley McBride ’89 becomes the first female Friars’ Club president.
The College begins allowing women and men to live in the same residence hall.
1990
Lynn F. Sheedy ’80 is the first alumna named to PC Athletic Hall of Fame.
1992
Mary Ellen Woodmancy Danby ’75 is the first alumna named National Alumni Association president.
1993
The President’s Council elects its first woman member and Kathleen Caldwell Taddei ’75 becomes the first alumna to serve on the Board of Trustees.
Carol A. Hartley becomes the first woman appointed as president of the faculty senate.
1994
Jane Lunin Perel establishes the Women’s Studies Program at PC. (Women’s studies became a minor in 1999, a major in 2009, and was renamed the Women and Gender Studies Program in 2019.)
1998
Chris Bailey ’94, Laurie Baker ’00, Alana Blahoski ’96, Lisa Brown-Miller ’88, Sara DeCosta ’00, Vicki Movsessian ’94, and team captain Cammi Granato ’93 win gold for U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey in the 1998 Winter Olympics.
A New Century: 2000 – 2021
2000
Jennifer M. Graham ’00 is invited to be the first woman senior class president to give greetings at a PC commencement.
2001
Marifrances McGinn ’19Hon., who served as general counsel, is named the College’s woman first vice president.
2004
Kimberly F. Smith ’05 wins the NCAA Individual Women’s Cross Country Championship, three NCAA individual titles in indoor track (5,000 metres and 3,000 metres) and outdoor track (5,000 metres). Her four NCAA individual championships are the most by any runner in Providence College history.
2005
PC’s Women’s Rugby Club wins the College’s first club sport national championship.
Jillian Fortier ’06 becomes the first women student to receive a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.
2007
Sue Lehrman is appointed as the first dean of the Providence College School of Business.
2008
Catherine “Cammi” M. Granato ’93 is the first women player inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
2009
Sheila Adamus Liotta is appointed first dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
2010
Catherine “Cammi” M. Granato ’93 is the first women player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.
2012
Women’s Cross Country won the Northeast Regional Championship and finished second at the NCAA Championship. It marked the program’s highest finish at the NCAA’s since winning the title in 1995.
2013
Women’s Cross Country claimed its second NCAA Championship. The team also won the Northeast Regional and BIG EAST Championships.
Emily Sisson ’14, Laura Nagel ’14 and Sarah Collins ’16 each claimed All-America honors during the Friars’ NCAA Championship season.
Women’s hockey alumna, Cindy Curley ’85, inducted into U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
2014
Caitlin Malone ’13 earned All-America honors for the field hockey team. It was the first of three All-Americans for the program over the course of the next four years (Adrienne Houle, 2016 and Manon Van Weezel 2017).
Genevieve Lacasse ’12 earned a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
2015
Women’s Cross Country finished on the podium for the third time in the last four years at the NCAA Championships (fourth place). The Friars also claimed the BIG EAST title.
Emily Sisson claimed two NCAA individual titles in the 5,000-meter events during the indoor track and outdoor track seasons.
Women’s Soccer advanced to the BIG EAST Championship game for the third time in program history.
Catherine Zimmerman ‘16 capped her career as a three-time All-BIG EAST selection and became the first Friar in program history to repeat as a First-Team selection in 2014 and 2015.
2016
Women’s Cross Country claimed its third BIG EAST title in four years.
2018
Kristin Hayman ’18 represented the women’s soccer team at graduation as Providence College’s Valedictorian.
Genevieve Lacasse ’12 earned a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
2019
Women’s Basketball advanced to the WNIT Round of 16, marking program’s first post-season appearance since 2010.
Mary Baskerville became just the second player in program history to be named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, following in the footsteps of former Friar great Tracy Lis ‘92.
Softball posted its first 30-win season since 2005 and claimed a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament.
Cammi Granato ’93 hired as the NHL’s first female scout, joining the expansion franchise Seattle Kraken.
2020
Theresa Durkee ’20 represented the women’s soccer team at graduation as Providence College’s Valedictorian.
On March 12, the BIG EAST Conference announced the cancelation of spring sport competition, effective immediately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On August 12, the BIG EAST canceled fall sports, eventually moving their season of competition to the spring of 2021.
2021
Women’s Ice Hockey qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history.
Women’s Basketball advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinals for the third-consecutive year.
Volleyball qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 1995. Head Margot Royer-Johnson and her assistant coaches were named BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year.
The College established the Providentia Endowed Fund, a new, permanent endowment fund to fuel women’s initiatives on campus and beyond and introduce regional and interest-based programming to bring PC women together.
