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.

October 1964 - The Symposium on American Women in Science and Engineering

Within a year of the opening of McCormick Hall, MIT’s first on-campus dormitory for women, the Association of Women Students (AWS) sponsored a symposium attended by 600 guests and 260 student delegates from 140 colleges nationwide. Among the distinguished guests were Lillian Moller Gilbreth, a pioneering psychologist and industrial engineer; Katherine G. Johnson, the physicist and mathematician whose calculations would be critical to NASA’s missions to send astronauts into orbit and to the moon; Yvonne Young Clark, Tennessee State University’s first female faculty member in the College of Engineering and Technology; and Inez Bellamy Hazel, a computer programmer and systems analyst from MIT’s Lincoln Lab.¹²

Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu, an experimental physicist whose Manhattan Project research improved the enrichment of uranium in large quantities encouraged the gathering to recognize women for their contributions, not their gender: “I wonder whether the tiny atoms and nuclei, or the mathematical symbols, or the DNA molecules have any preference for either masculine or feminine treatment.”^6,7

June 1973 - Centennial Convocation: 100 Years of Women Graduates

To commemorate 100 years of women at MIT, the Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA) sponsored a two-day Convocation to “probe issues of current and future international and national concern, as well as questions relating to a person’s career selection, professional advancement, education, and personal development.”⁴ Chaired by AMITA President Susan Schur (1960 S.B., S.M. Materials Science & Engineering), the Centennial Convocation featured exhibitions and workshops produced by AMITA and held throughout MIT. 

As a featured panelist, Dorothy Weeks (1923 S.M. Physics, 1930 Ph.D. Mathematics) spoke of the power of MIT alumnae: “These women students at MIT, through positions in industry, government, and educational institutions, helped to open doors for other women. They carved out for themselves interesting positions in science and engineering in a time when many doors were closed to women, and when the number of positions in science and engineering was relatively small, for men as well as women.”⁴

Susan Lippman Kannenberg (1961 S.B. Physics), assisted by a committee of AMITA members, led a survey of MIT Alumnae. Their report, 100 Years of Women at MIT, analyzed demographic data and reviewed the impact gender had on their education and career. AMITA’s Centennial Convocation received a 1973 Presidential Citation, the highest honor the MIT Alumni Association bestows upon any of its organizations. 

January 1994 - Black Women In The Academy: Defending Our Name, 1894-1994 

Organized by MIT Professors Robin Kilson and Evelynn M. Hammonds (1980 S.M. Physics) and attended by over 2000 people, the conference was the first national meeting to focus on the specific issues and scholarship of black women in higher education.²

One hundred years earlier, the 1893 Columbian World Exposition featured contributions by white women, such as the Ladies Pavilion designed by Sophia Haydn Bennett (1890 S.B. Architecture) and the Rumford Kitchen Exhibit developed by Ellen Swallow Richards (1873 S.B. Chemistry), yet excluded those of Black women. From the conference program: “[Fannie Barrier Williams] addressed the true cause for the exclusion of [B]lacks from the event when she said plainly that, ‘The morality of our home life has been commented on so disparagingly and meanly that we are placed in the unfortunate position of being defenders of our name.’” Given the fallout from 1991 Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings and a political landscape “centered on the issue of welfare reform and 'family values'” little had changed since 1894.²

Keynote Speakers included Lani Guinier of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Dr. Johnnetta Cole, president of Spelman College, and Professor Angela Davis of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Charles Vest, President of MIT, announced, “25 percent of all the [B]lack women who earned PhDs in chemical engineering in the United States - four - joined the tenure-track faculty at MIT.”³ That year MIT hired Paula T. Hammond (S.B. 1984, Ph.D. 1993 Chemical Engineering). Today, Paula is the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering and the Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering⁸. In May 2021, Paula was named an Institute Professor, the highest honor awarded by the faculty and administration at MIT.

2011 - MIT 150 Leaders in Science and Engineering: The Women of MIT

The Women of MIT symposium “celebrat[ed] the successes of women faculty members and the Institute’s progress in fostering a culture of inclusion,”⁸ yet acknowledged the work to be done. The landmark 1999 Report on the Status of Women Faculty in the School of Science at MIT (chaired by Professor Nancy Hopkins and Professor Mary Potter) and 2002 Report of the Committee on the Status of Women Faculty in the School of Engineering (chaired by Professor Lorna Gibson) are two of the most comprehensive reports on women faculty ever attempted. These reports would introduce significant changes at MIT and colleges and universities across the US. Nancy Hopkins described the progress since the 1990s as a “Celebration with caveats.”¹³ The number of women faculty in the Science and Engineering Schools had doubled, and more women held senior positions at MIT. However, unconscious bias and the underevaluation of women’s work remain alongside new elements, such as dual-career families. Nancy pointed out that data showed change can take up to 30 years, and MIT had been working on the issues for 12-15 years. Shirley Jackson (1968 S.B., Ph.D. 1973 Physics) remarked, “High-profile events such as this symposium are critically important to identify and eliminate these barriers to full participation of women in science and technology. [...] Some of the answers are in the MIT study. But I hope that we will continue to broaden our exploration of the issues.”¹⁴

1. American Women in Science and Engineering Symposium travel grants, 1964, Box: 3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, records of Associate Dean for Student Affairs Emily Wick, AC-0022. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections.
2. Black Women in the Academy: Defending Our Name, 1894-1994, Conference Records, AC 533. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Distinctive Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts. https://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/190506. Accessed 3 May 2023.
3. “Black Women Send Appeal to Clinton | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://news.mit.edu/1994/appeal-0126. Accessed 4 May 2023.
4. Centennial Convocation -- 100 Years of Women Graduates, June 2 and 3, 1973. Association of MIT Alumnae Records, MC-0065. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections. Explore the MIT Libraries Distinctive Collections Conference records to view attendee packets, media coverage & more.
5. Chandler, David L. “A Celebration of Women in Science and Engineering | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT News. https://news.mit.edu/2011/mit150-women-symposium-0401. Accessed 11 May 2023.
6. Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “Chien-Shiung Wu - Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 24 June 2003. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chien-Shiung_Wu. Accessed 16 April 2023.
7. “Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu, The First Lady of Physics (U.S. National Park Service).” NPS.Gov (U.S. National Park Service). https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-chien-shiung-wu-the-first-lady-of-physics.htm. Accessed 4 May 2023. 
8. “Faculty – MIT Chemical Engineering.” MIT Chemical Engineering – Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT. https://cheme.mit.edu/people/faculty/. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.
9. “MIT150 Archive: Symposia, Leaders in Science and Engineering: The Women of MIT.” An Archive of MIT’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, 2011. http://mit150.mit.edu/symposia/leaders-science-engineering.html. Accessed 11 May 2023.
10. “National Conference at MIT Focuses on Black Women Academics | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5 Jan. 1994. https://news.mit.edu/1994/black-0105. Accessed 27 April 2023.
11. Trafton, Anne Trafton. “Paula Hammond and Arup Chakraborty Named Institute Professors | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT News Office. https://news.mit.edu/2021/paula-hammond-arup-chakraborty-institute-0506. Accessed 17 May 2023.
12. “Uncovering Pioneering Women in Science and Engineering in MIT’s Archives | MIT Libraries News.” MIT Libraries, 22 Mar. 2017, https://libraries.mit.edu/news/uncovering-pioneering/24722/. Accessed 4 May 2023.
13. Women of MIT: The Status of Women in Science and Engineering at MIT. Keynote Address by Nancy Hopkins. https://youtu.be/4D5rj6nrRE0. Accessed 16 May 2023.
14. Women of MIT: The Status of Women in Science and Engineering at MIT. Keynote Address by Shirley Jackson. https://youtu.be/Ik9S1A3zhak. Accessed 17 May 2023.