Chapter 5

The 1980s: Marcia Savage, Kathleen McGrory, and

The Resurgence of Interest in Education for Women 

Third President: Marcia Savage, 1980-1984 

Acting President: Gail Champlin,  1984-1985 

Fourth President: M. Kathleen McGrory, 1985-1990
Photo: Gail Champlin, Marcia Savage, Kathleen McGrory, Joan Davis, Miriam Butterworth

            The 1980s and 1990s saw a resurgence of both popular and scholarly interest in the value of single sex education for girls and women. For example, a widely-read book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, 1994 by Mary Pipher and Ruth Ross pointed to a decline in self esteem characteristic of teenage girls. Readers of the book were led to consider the unique needs of girls compared to those of boys. On a more scholarly level, a 1991 landmark study commissioned by the American Association of University Women suggested that teachers paid more attention to boys than to girls in the classroom. Even cartoonist Gary Trudeau penned a Doonesbury cartoon in 1992 that became a favorite of advocates of women’s colleges. In the last frame of the strip a pre-school age girl advises her mother to send her father to talk to the girl’s teacher because, “Mom, She’ll never call on you! Send Daddy.”

In 1989 M. Elizabeth Tidball posited a particularly compelling case for single-sex education. Tidwell argued that women’s colleges play a unique role in the education of women, not only by providing a supportive experience for their own students, but by developing methods for educating women. She maintained that women’s colleges would continue to play an important role in American education. She also stressed that male professors at coeducational colleges could learn from their male peers at single sex schools. Her studies found that male professors at all women’s schools provided more help and support to female students than their counterparts at coed institutions.

            This increased interest in the education of girls and women and in the particular advantages of single sex education initially gave HCW a boost. However, the breadth of women-oriented programs offered at the college during the 1980s also points to an institution in search of a mission.The college appeared to provide programs for women of almost every age and ethnic group.

HCW was no longer a predominantly a feeder school for young women pursuing a four year degree.  Through the combined efforts of the College and its Career Counseling Center, by 1990, adult women accounted for twenty five percent of the total student population. HCW also spun out a variety of non-degree continuing education programs.

Marcia Savage 1980-1985

Marcia Savage became president of HCW in 1980. According to a Clark alumni magazine interview, Savage became more of a feminist during her years at HCW. When she arrived in Hartford, she had more experience with coeducational programs. Born and raised in Worchester, Mass., she attended college in her home town, becoming a 1961 honors graduate of Clark University. She came to Hartford from a post as Dean of the College at Clark where she had also served as Dean of Students and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.

By 1985 Savage believed that women in academic administration were no longer treated as tokens, “but it is still an uphill struggle.” Savage oversaw the creation of the Women’s Research Institute headed by Sharon Shepala; developed additional adult programs, expanded the services of the Career Counseling Center, increased staff, and raised $2.5 million -  all of which strengthened HCW as a women’s institution. 

During Savage’s years in office HCW developed a more diverse student body, faculty, and staff. In a Chronicle article Savage commented, “We are the place that people turn to for interesting things on women. We have responded to  aneed in a way that has truly changed peoples lives in a tangible way. We have a special niche in the Hartford community.” That niche still exists in the 2010s, although it has evolved into a new form.

After leaving Hartford, Savage took on increased responsibilities as the president of Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY where she served from 1985-1995. Manhattanville had originally been founded as a woman’s college affiliated with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1952. The college became an independent institution in 1966 and became coeducational in 1971. According to a Hartford Courant article dated Oct. 26, 1984 Manhattanville had a student population of about 1,000. HCW numbered about 200 undergraduates with 3,000 women and men using its services. She retired from Manhattanville in 1995.  

Kathleen McGrory 1985-1990

When Savage departed for Manhattanville Gail Champlin, director of the Career Counseling Center, was appointed as Acting President of HCW for a year.  Kathleen McGrory became the fourth and last president of HCW on October 6, 1985.

McGrory held a PhD from Colombia University. She came to HCW from Eastern Connecticut State University where she had served four years as Vice President of Academic Affairs (1981-1985) and three years as the first dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (1978-1981). She had been a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Western Connecticut State College in Danbury, Conn. and the College of White Plains of Pace University in White Plains, NY.  Her specialties included comparative medieval literature and modern Irish literature and she had published Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett: new Light on Three Modern Irish Writers (Bucknell University Press, 1975).

During the second half of the 1980s, HCWs accomplishments and those of its Career Counseling Center included the upgrading of the legal assistant program from certificate program into a baccalaureate, expansion of the computer education program, the expansion of programs for women of color, and the development of programs for women transitioning out of poverty or welfare into economic solvency. These years were also marked by efforts resulting in the naming of five buildings to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Most alumnae and former faculty and staff of HCW would probably agree that the campus, consisting of gracious former homes, landscaped grounds, and an informal arboretum of landmark trees contributed to the educational success of the college. For students struggling with personal challenges, whether financial, emotional, or vocational, the campus could seem like a haven of calm. Despite continuing economic difficulties, the college attempted to maintain the character of its buildings and grounds.

In 1986, Thomas G. Gaines included HCW in a Washington Post article, “Collecting Campuses in Connecticut.” He noted that “School campuses, along with theme parks, world’s fairs and village greens, can be among the most idyllic of man-made environments-places we enjoy visiting and returning to.” He stated that HCW “has the best landscaping of any Connecticut School.” He remarked that although the campus had grown by “serendipity” that “it was knitted into a cohesive whole, combining function and taste.”

The distinctive ambience of the HCW campus is one reason it continues to hold a place in the regard of the greater Hartford community. By the 1990s, however, time was catching up with the idyllic world of HCW.  A later chapter of this blog will deal with HCWs decision to affiliate with the University of Hartford. First, however, this blog will feature a chapter about  the institution that would become today's Center for Professional Development.

Sources

How Schools Shortchange Girls: The Aauw Report: a Study of Major Findings on Girls and Education. Washington, DC: AAUW Educational Foundation, 1992.

Pipher, Mary B. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. New York: Putnam, 1994.

Tidball, M E. Taking Women Seriously: Lessons and Legacies for Educating the Majority. Phoenix, Ariz: Oryx Press, 1999. Print.

Trudeau, G B. Quality Time on Highway 1. Kansas City, Mo: Andrews and McMeel, 1993.

Hartford College for Women archives

Gaines, Thomas A. “Collecting Campuses in Connecticut,” The Washington Post. October 26, 1986, E6.