In Her Footsteps: Through the Open Door - MIT Cambridge (1916 - Present) - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. The Great Court (1916) - An Alumnae Landscape

MIT’s Great Court designed by alumnae Mabel Keyes Babcock 1908 S.B., 1909 S.M. Architecture, and Elizabeth Greenleaf Pattee 1916 S.B. Architecture, and completed in June 1917, has hosted countless gatherings. A description of their work appears in the June 1917 Technology Review. “In the great court the grouping of large maples with accompanying conifers and magnolias softened the bare outlines of the stone [...] while a border of rhododendrons in flower served to mask the plinth courses of the structures with greenery showing here and there a dash of brilliant color.” Rhododendrons still bloom every year for graduation.Throughout the 1920s, there had been discussions about replacing the gravel, adding a reflecting pond, and creating a formal entrance on Massachusetts Avenue. In 1928, steam shovels crawled across the court, erasing much of Mabel’s & Elizabeth’s original work: replacing gravel with grass and planting large trees. Some of the oldest trees may date from this time. MIT never installed the pond, but the main entrance did move to 77 Massachusetts Avenue in 1938.In 1974 MIT renamed The Great Court for James R. Killian, the 10th president of MIT and the first alumnus to hold the role.

2. The Margaret Cheney Room - 1916 to the Present

The Margaret Cheney Reading Room has played an essential role in the history of women students at MIT. When it first opened on the Boston campus in 1884, the Cheney Room provided the facilities that guaranteed women a place at MIT. Over multiple moves and renovations, the Cheney Room continues to evolve to meet the needs of MIT’s women students.Today's Margaret Cheney Room suite, located at 3-308 and 3-310, provides a physically and emotionally safe environment for women or women-identifying students. Private space: Key card access required.

3. Ellen Swallow Richards Lobby - Commemorating Her Life and Legacy

The Ellen Swallow Richards Lobby located at the intersection of MIT Buildings 2 & 4 is a testament to the remarkable life and legacy of Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911). As the first woman to be admitted, graduate, and become an instructor at MIT, and considered to be the founder of ecology and home economics, she broke barriers and paved the way for future generations. Her contributions as a chemist, environmentalist, and advocate for women's education continue to impact us today. As visitors stand in the lobby, surrounded by the memorabilia of her life and legacy, they can almost hear Richards' call to action from 1872, “I hope that I am winning a way which others will keep open.”[1]

4. Dixie Lee Bryant Lecture Hall - Honoring A Pioneering Alumna

MIT’s Green Building, designed by I.M. Pei (1940 BAR Architecture), houses the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) and the MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI). Most MIT lecture halls are nameless, simply referred to by their room number: 10-250, 26-100, etc. The naming of 54-100 for Dixie Lee Bryant (1891 SB Geology), the first person to earn a degree in Geology from MIT, marks a singular honor to a pioneering woman in Earth Science.The Dixie Lee Bryant Lecture Hall is located on the 1st Floor - which is not the ground floor. Use the elevator for the most direct route. Due to the ongoing construction, entry to Building 54 is limited. See https://capitalprojects.mit.edu/projects/building-54-infrastructure-renewal for more information.For guidance on accessing MIT Buildings visit https://now.mit.edu/policies/campus-access-and-visitors/

5. Women's Healthcare Pioneers & Advocates - MIT Medical (E23) & Whitaker College (E25)

Healthcare has been available at this location since this building, E23, opened in 1982. Medical services were not specifically recorded at MIT until the Annual Report of 1901; and even though women had been enrolling as students since MIT’s earliest years, for decades, there is no mention in available records of care being provided to the women students of MIT – although there are multiple references to caring for the wives of students. Even so, MIT was making a difference in the health of women: a number of MIT’s earliest female students became physicians (and many still do to this day); Katharine Dexter McCormick (1904 S.B. Biology) funded the research that led to the development of the oral contraceptive pill; and today, MIT faculty like Linda Griffith are leading research endeavors that aim to understand the pathophysiology and potential treatments for conditions such as endometriosis that affect women.

6. Site of Nancy Hopkins' Original Laboratory: Seeley G. Mudd Building (E17)

Nancy Hopkins joined MIT’s Center for Cancer Research, then housed at the Seeley Mudd Building (E17), as an assistant professor in 1973 and earned tenure in 1979.10,11 Now the Amgen Inc. Professor of Biology Emerita, Nancy pioneered work on the genetics of mouse RNA tumor viruses, early vertebrate development using zebrafish, and on zebrafish as a cancer model. In 1994, armed with a tape measure and laboratory floorplan, she launched an investigation that would change the work environment for women at MIT and across the country. When the Cancer Center moved across the street to The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research (Building 76) in 2010, MIT renovated Buildings E17 and E18 to provide additional space for the Chemical Engineering department and other projects on campus.3,15 E17 is Key Card Access only. For guidance on accessing MIT Buildings visit https://now.mit.edu/policies/campus-access-and-visitors/

7. Susan Hockfield Court - MIT Women Lead in Higher Education

In December 2004, Susan Hockfield became the First Woman and Life Scientist to lead MIT. As MIT’s 16th president, she championed the convergence of the life sciences with the engineering and physical sciences, oversaw the establishment of the MIT Energy Initiative, advanced MIT’s regional and global engagement, and fostered the burgeoning Kendall Square innovation cluster, among other visionary initiatives. “It’s particularly meaningful to have this courtyard chosen as a legacy of my leadership. [...] The walkways link buildings, departments, schools and disciplines, and facilitate one of MIT’s signature promises: ‘Turning footpaths of collaboration into superhighways.’”3In 1871, the same year Ellen Swallow Richards (Class of 1873) entered MIT, Elizabeth Willard became the first woman college president in the US, heading the Evanston College for Ladies in Illinois until its merger with Northwestern in 1873. At the time, women accounted for 15% of bachelor’s degrees and fewer than 1% of doctorates in the United States. A decade later, Ellen Swallow Richards and Marion Talbot (Class of 1888) founded the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to help women break through educational barriers to attend and graduate from college. By 2021, women earned 46% of U.S. doctoral degrees. However, the proportion falls by 10-20 points for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. Today, 33% of college presidents are women. Although the proportion falls to 22% for doctorate-granting institutions like MIT.2,17,18 For over a century, MIT women have served and continue to serve as leaders in Higher Education.

8. Lisa T. Su Building (12) - MIT.nano - First Alumna-Donor Named Building

Steps away from the Infinite Corridor and a short walk from the Big Dome, MIT Building 12 stands. It is named the Lisa T. Su building after alum Lisa Su '90, SM '91, PhD '94, the first women alumni donor to have a building named after her (1). Completed in 2018, Building 12 is a multidisciplinary space housing labs, imaging facilities, teaching spaces, and meeting spaces meant to support advancements in nanotechnology, technology on the scale of billionths of a meter (2).MIT.nano offers tours to faculty and their research teams; staff from MIT departments, centers, and offices; alumni clubs; and outside groups including corporations and industrial visitors interested in nanoscale discovery and innovation. Unfortunately, they are unable to offer tours to individuals, families visiting MIT, or tourists. For more information visit https://mitnano.mit.edu/request-tour-mitnano

9. Kresge Auditorium - Four Historic Women's Conferences

Kresge Auditorium was designed by Eero Saarinen and dedicated in 1955 to serve as “the meeting house of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” Over the years, Kresge has hosted numerous programs, including four historic women’s conferences: the Symposium on American Women In Science & Engineering (1964), the Centennial Convocation (1973), Black Women In The Academy: Defending Our Name (1994), and the MIT150 Leaders in Science and Engineering: The Women of MIT (2011). From 1871 through today, MIT women - students, alumnae, and faculty - continue to advocate for equality and equity in housing, education, and career opportunities. These conferences underscored the contemporary challenges for women. Interestingly, each was sponsored by a different group of stakeholders. The first three were organized by women: Students, Alumnae, and Faculty. The 2011 Conference, part of the celebration of MIT’s founding 150 years earlier, was a collaborative effort by women and men.

10. Stanley McCormick Hall - MIT’s only all-female dormitory

MIT’s only all-female dormitory Stanley McCormick Hall marked a historic moment in MIT and US history. Built in 1963 by MIT architecture professor, Herbert Beckwith, McCormick Hall shepherded an era of greater commitment to the equal education of women by MIT.Katharine Dexter McCormick, an early female graduate of MIT in 1904, commissioned the building of McCormick Hall and named it after her deceased husband. Even though MIT had been accepting women since 1883, Katharine Dexter McCormick felt MIT was insincere in its efforts to support female students. She spent her adult life promoting women’s equality at MIT in addition to playing a prominent role in the women’s suffrage movement and efforts to develop safe birth control methods. McCormick Hall is the capstone of Katharine Dexter McCormick’s many contributions to MIT. McCormick Hall stands as a monument to her belief that it is possible to combine graciousness and style with intellectual seriousness and persistent hard work. (1)Key Card Access for Residents Only.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

In Her Footsteps: Through the Open Door - MIT Cambridge (1916 - Present)

Created by Coleen Smith on March 25th 2022, 7:49:38 pm.

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Description

As MIT prepared for its move to Cambridge in 1916, the MIT Women’s Association (MITWA), led by President Mabel Keyes Babcock 1908, S.M. 1909 Architecture, surveyed over 700 women who had attended MIT since 1871. The resulting directory, Technology Women, featured in the Boston Globe, recorded each woman’s name, residence, and occupation. Of the women who responded, 100 had earned Bachelor of Science degrees, and two had earned Masters of Science from MIT. Ellen Swallow Richards opened the door, and Technology Women introduced the MIT women who followed her. “From that day to this women have been passing within the doors of the Institute; many have won its degrees, but more have gained here the quality of precision to fill the requirements of special work in their chosen fields. Every woman acknowledges her debt of gratitude to her whose wise brain and willing hand opened the way.” (from the Introduction, by Mabel Keyes Babcock) MIT women — students, alumnae, and faculty — continued to advocate for equality and equity in education and career opportunities. “Through the Open Door” celebrates the First Women of MIT and recognizes their role in keeping the way open to the next generation of women at MIT and elsewhere. For guidance on accessing MIT Buildings visit https://now.mit.edu/policies/campus-access-and-visitors/

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