Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Dewick, Cora Alma (Polk), 1875-1977
Cora Alma (Polk) Dewick (1875-1977), W1896, was one of the first women to enter Tufts College in 1894.She was also the first alumna elected to serve on the Board of Trustees. | |
The daughter of an Universalist minister, Dewick was born in Oxford, Ohio on July 3, 1875. When Tufts voted to accept women into the student body in 1894, Dewick transferred from Susquehanna College Institute, in Towanda, Pennsylvania, being urged by her father to attend a college built on Universalist ideals. She graduated from Tufts in 1896 with a Woman of Arts degree and taught for several years. | |
In 1920, Dewick was elected as the first woman to serve on the Board of Trustees, serving the institution for twenty years. She was also the first woman to serve on the visiting committee to Jackson College. Dewick advocated for the Tufts women students and worked for the building of Stratton Hall. | |
She received an honorary Master of Arts and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Tufts. Dewick was also the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, director and past president of the Association of Tufts Alumnae, president of the Universalist Women's Alliance and active in several other academic, women's and Universalists' organizations. Dewick died June 25, 1977 in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was 101 years old. | |
Dewick Hall was named in her honor. | |
Source: VF | |
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