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Magisterial Feminae, 1930-1980: The Feminae

Timeline with important dates in the history of Brooklyn College and the lives of the Magisterial Feminae

Click the image to enlarge the timeline in a new tab.

Dr. Marion Starling, EnglishPhoto of Marion Starling

  • Completed her dissertation in 1947
  • First BC faculty member to put African American literature in the curriculum
  • Used her training in Classics to be the first editor of slave narratives

Dr. Alice Kober, ClassicsPhoto of Alice Kober

  • Deciphered the Minoan script Linear B, as documented in Margalit Fox's 2013 book The Riddle of the Labyrinth
  • Won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1946

 

Dr. Adele Bildersee, EducationPhoto of Adele Bildersee

  • First Dean of Women, Dean of Students, and Director of Admissions
  • Advocate for women's education
  • Scholar of post-biblical Jewish history

 

Dr. Helen Pope, ClassicsPicture of Athena statue (used in place of photo of Helen Pope)

 

Dr. Elizabeth A. R. Brown, HistoryPhoto of Elizabeth A.R. Brown

  • Ground-breaking scholar who transformed our understanding of "feudalism" with her 1974 article "The Tyranny of a Construct"
  • Wrote 5 books and hundreds of articles on 12th-14th century France
  • Mentored generations of medievalists in the US and Europe

Picture of Athena statue (used in place of photo of Helen Tanzer)Dr. Helen Tanzer, Classics

  • Archaeologist and scholar of Pompeii and its graffiti
  • Honorary attaché to the Belgian embassy
  • Created early instructional films called "Latin Visualized," illustrating ancient Rome

 

Dr. Ethyle Wolfe, ClassicsPhoto of Ethyle Wolfe

  • First female provost of Brooklyn College
  • First female chair of the Classics department
  • Founder of the Humanities Institute (now the Wolfe Institute)
  • Creator of the award-winning BC Liberal Arts core curriculum

Dr. Nancy Black, EnglishPicture of Athena statue (used in place of photo of Nancy Black)

  • Interdisciplinary Medievalist studying comparative literature
  • Writer of pedagogical treatises on the value of the Liberal Arts for CUNY students

 

 

Dr. Gail Smith, ClassicsPhoto of Gail Smith

  • Historian of ancient drama
  • Pioneer in the study of African American writers and Classical Antiquity
  • LGI faculty member
  • Founding director of the CUNY Pipeline Program, an initiative to diversify PhD students across multiple disciplines

 

Dr. Frederica Wachsberger, ArtPicture of Athena statue (used in place of photo of Frederica Wachsberger)

  • Historian of Ancient Greek art
  • Co-founder of the Women's Studies program

 

Dr. Jacqueline de Weever, EnglishPhoto of Jacqueline de Weever

  • Pioneered the study of race and gender in medieval literature
  • Guyanese-born scholar and poet

 

Dr. Margaret Bryant, EnglishPhoto of Margaret Bryant

Dr. Marilyn Katz, ClassicsPhoto of Marilyn Katz

  • Co-founder of the Women's Classical Caucus of the American Philological Association in 1972
  • Founding faculty member of the Women's Studies program

 

Picture of Athena statue (used in place of photo of Elsa de Haas)Dr. Elsa de Haas, Government/Sociology

  • Scholar of Ancient and Medieval law

 

 

Dr. Vera Lachmann, ClassicsPhoto of Vera Lachmann

  • Jewish refugee, German poet and scholar
  • Founded a summer camp where kids recited Homer and performed Greek drama in 1944

 

Dr. Dee Clayman, ClassicsPhoto of Dee Clayman

  • Scholar of Hellenistic poetry
  • General editor of the Database of Classical Bibliography

 

Dr. Mary Francis Gyles, HistoryPicture of Athena statue (used in place of photo of Mary Francis Gyles)

  • First female chair of the History department
  • Historian of Ancient Egypt

 

 

Rita Fleischer, M.A., LGIPhoto of Rita Fleischer

  • LGI co-founder, faculty member, co-author of its textbook and Institute materfamilias
  • Director of the Language Reading Program, CUNY Graduate Center

 

Dr. Gladys Shoemaker, ClassicsPicture of Athena statue (used in place of photo of Gladys Shoemaker)

  • Founded the NEH/Brooklyn College Cornerstone Latin Project, creating links between secondary Latin educators in NYC and the Classics Department
  • Beloved teacher with a plaque and garden dedicated in her honor on the main quad

 

Stephanie Russell, LGIPhoto of Stephanie Russell

  • One of the LGI's longest-serving faculty members
  • Co-author with Andrew Keller of the well-regarded Learn to Read Latin textbook