Elizabeth Denio

Dr. Elizabeth Harriet Denio (3 August 1842 – 23 December 1922) was an American teacher who was the first woman to teach at the University of Rochester. She retired as Professor Emeritus in 1917.

Emeritus Prof. Elizabeth Denio
Born3 August 1842
Albion, New York
Died23 December 1922
Rochester
NationalityAmerican
Other namesDr Denio
EducationUniversity of Berlin, Leipzig and Heidelberg
Known forFirst woman to teach at Rochester
TitleEmeritus Professor

Life

Denio was born in Albion, New York, in 1842.

In 1896, Wellesley College had a new president, who decided that Denio's method of teaching was archaic, and she lost her job.

She traveled to Germany to obtain a doctorate in art history. She failed to qualify in Berlin and Leipzig. Leipzig was her favorite and she attended the lectures of ten different professors, despite the rule that women were not admitted. She led a group of Wellesley students to visit the university in 1889.[1] She was successful in obtaining her doctorate at the University of Heidelberg in October 1898. Her thesis was on the "Life and Works of Nicholas Pouissin".[2]

She returned to America where she was employed by the University of Rochester in 1902.[3] This was the year after the first woman obtained a degree at Rochester.[4] Denio was the first woman to teach and her wages were covered by Emily Sibley Watson.[3]

In 1910 she was promoted. She was mentioned by the university president, Benjamin Rush Rhees, in his annual report, in which he lauded Denio's teaching. She retired in 1917 with the title of Professor Emeritus.[3]

Denio died as the result of being hit by a car in Rochester.[3]

References
  1. Anja Werner (1 March 2013). The Transatlantic World of Higher Education: Americans at German Universities, 1776-1914. Berghahn Books. pp. 92–. ISBN 978-0-85745-783-7.
  2. Sandra L. Singer (2003). Adventures Abroad: North American Women at German-speaking Universities, 1868-1915. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-0-313-32371-3.
  3. "Denio Became University of Rochester's First Female Faculty Member | Orleans County Department of History". orleanscountyhistorian.org. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  4. May, Arthur J. (1977) A History of the university of Rochester, Princeton: Princeton University
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