User:Lg105/Barbara W. Newell

Dr. Barbara Newell
Barbara Newell on August, 2018.
Born	(1929-08-19) August 19, 1929 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin Vassar College
Occupation(s)	Academic Administrator Former Chancellor
Spouse	Ernest Kolowrat

Plans for Article

Inaugurated Thursday, 10/26/1972 at Alumnae Hall at 4:15pm

Commission on environmental concerns

10 year fundraising for faculty pay and research grants

$195,000 grant from Carnegie Corporation (page 329)

10-year centennial development program of 70mil

Education

Newell attended Vassar College, noting that the historically women's college experience mirrored her childhood experiences with female role models. Barbara Newell graduated in 1951 with a B.A. in Economics.

Following her graduation, Newell was accepted to Yale's graduate program in labor economics but was discriminated against on the basis of her gender as she would be prohibited from teaching and completing fieldwork on the side. Newell ultimately attended the University of Wisconsin, which welcomed her with no such restrictions. Two years into the program, Newell lost her husband of five weeks, George V. Thompson, to polio. She took time off from her degree before her father encouraged her to return. H. Edwin Young, then chair of the economics department, and Robben Wright Fleming arranged for the University of Illinois to pay for Newell to complete her dissertation first before finishing the rest of her degree. She wrote her dissertation on Chicago and the labor movement. Newell received her M.A. In 1953 and her Ph.D. in 1958, both in Economics.

Career

After earning her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in 1958, Newell was hired as Assistant Professor of Economics at Purdue University in 1959, making her the first woman hired by the Purdue School of Business. She applied for that position after her husband, a physicist named George Newell, was hired by the university. Her husband tragically developed cancer in 1963 and died a month later, leaving her alone with a one-year-old daughter and a part time teaching position. Since it was her seventh year working at Purdue, she also was put on trial for tenure within the same year as her husband's passing. She succeeded in getting tenure, but shortly thereafter returned to the University of Wisconsin Madison to become Assistant to Chancellor Robben Fleming. During her time there, Newell was tasked with creating a Center for Poverty at the university, an experience which would later be influential in her creation of the Wellesley Centers for Women during her presidency at Wellesley College.

After serving as an Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Pittsburgh, Newell was appointed as the 10th President of Wellesley College in 1971 and served in the position until 1980. Newell was inaugurated into the presidency on Thursday, October 26th at Alumnae Hall of Wellesley College. Near the end of her presidency from 1979 to 1981, Newell became the first woman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). After leaving Wellesley College, she served as the chancellor of the State University System of Florida (1981–85) and taught economics.

Wellesley Centers for Women

In 1974, Newell helped establish the Center for Research on Women in Higher Education and the Professions (CRW). She served on the Board of Overseers and the Interim Advisory Committee for the center. Newell envisioned that the CRW would defend Wellesley as a women's college, include women's issues in the college curriculum, and link education and employment for the students. In 1995, under President Diana Chapman Walsh's presidency, the CRW merged with the Stone Center for Developmental Services and Studies to form the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). Since then, the WCW has continues to conduct extensive research and projects to promote gender equality, social justice, and human well-being. The WCW serves as a leading institution that takes action on topics such as education, child care, economic security, mental health, youth and adolescent development, gender-based violence, leadership, economic security, and society.

Mathematics Project

During her role in WCW, Newell implemented the Mathematics Project in 1976 "to bring back to the study of mathematics undergraduate women who have dropped out of mathematics early in their education, depriving themselves of career opportunities in a variety of fields." This program was developed with the Department of Mathematics of Wellesley and tested on Wellesley students. On June 21, 1974, Newell and Federation President Irene Tinker quoted regarding the grant from the Carnegie Corporation: “The activities of the Center will provide a unique opportunity to study the subtle discrimination that women face in their career aspirations and choices and to develop effective programs to overcome such obstacles."