The Ad Hoc Committee on the Role of Women at MIT

In 1970, MIT allowed co-ed dormitories, so that housing no longer limited the number of women. Dean Emily Wick '51, and an ad hoc committee on women's admissions recommended that the target number for women's admissions be dropped. MIT agreed and admissions became gender blind. The number of women undergraduates soared.

In 1972, Professor Mildred Dresselhaus and Paula Stone '72, Civil Engineering, co-chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on the Role of Women at MIT. The Committee included women from many part of the MIT community, including Sandra G. Yulke '74, Chemistry, and Carol Epstein '72 Biology. Another member, Dr. Christina (Huk) Jansen '63, Materials Science and Engineering, was later selected as one of the first "recent grads" to become a member of the MIT Corporation. She would later head corporate Liaison for the University of Utah.

The Committee recommended,among other things, that MIT hire more women faculty and women's advocates in the Dean's Office and Athletics Department. To boost the number of women students, there needed to be:

• active recruitment of women
• publicity about women at MIT
• alumnae Educational Councilors interviewing applicants
• department awareness to admit more women
• a system of women advisors
• more women graduate students

The faculty included 28 women in 1972. Dr. Dresselhaus became tenured in Electrical Engineering, and Dr. Vera Kistiakowski was granted tenure in the School of Science (Physics).

Bertha Dodge '22, Martha Munzer '22 and Marjorie Pierce '22 had a lot to smile about at their 50th Reunion