:Bernice Cronkhite
Bernice Brown Cronkhite (23 July 1893 – 3 August 1983) was an educator and former dean of Radcliffe College, working there for thirty-six years. She was the first woman at Radcliffe College to earn a doctorate in political science.
Biography
Born in Calais, Maine, Cronkhite earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Radcliffe College in 1916, her Master's degree in 1918, and her Ph.D. in 1920.{{cite news|title=Bernice Cronkhite Dies at 90; Radcliffe College Dean in 20's|author=Walter H. Waggoner|date=5 August 1983|work=The New York Times}} She became the first woman at Radcliffe College to receive a doctorate in political science, her thesis entitled, "On the Status of Armed Merchantmen". At the age of 29 in 1922, she became the dean of Radcliffe College, making her the youngest person to become a dean in the United States.{{cite news|title=10th Anniversary-1983 People- Headliners|work=Boston Herald|date=20 September 1992}}{{cite news|author=[No author]|title=[No title]|page=B5|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=6 August 1983}} She then served as the first dean for the Radcliffe graduate school from 1934 until her retirement in 1959. Although she retired, she remained a vice president and trustee of Radcliffe College until 1960, when she was named dean emeritus.
Cronkhite was the primary author of a 1956 report issued by Radcliffe College which summarized the experiences of several hundred Ph.D. holders from the institution.{{cite book |author=Eisenmann, Linda |title=Higher education for women in postwar America, 1945-1965 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=2006 |pages=72 |isbn=0-8018-8261-3}} In 1957, she raised funds to establish a women's dormitory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.{{cite book |author=Walton, Andrea |title=Women and philanthropy in education |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington |year=2005 |pages=320 |isbn=0-253-34466-2}} In her thirty-six years of service to Radcliffe College, she had worked there longer than any other senior officer in the institution.{{cite book |author=Vetter, Herbert F. |title=Notable American Unitarians 1936-1961 |publisher=Herbert F. Vetter |year=2007 |pages=61 |isbn=978-0-615-14784-0}}
She died on 3 August 1983 at the Stillman Infirmary of the Harvard University Health Services in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Cronkhite Graduate center at Radcliffe College was named in her honor, as a tribute to the 70 years that she was connected with the institution.
Works
- Handbook for College Teachers (1950)
- Graduate Education for Women: The Radcliffe Ph.D. (1956)
- The Times of My Life (1982)
References
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External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100716063211/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00820 Papers of Bernice Brown Cronkhite, 1921-1981: A Finding Aid]
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Category:American women academics
Category:Radcliffe College faculty
Category:People from Calais, Maine
Category:American university and college faculty deans
Category:Women deans (academic)
Category:Radcliffe College alumni
Category:20th-century American women educators