We were pleased to welcome alumni back to the Hill for our annual Homecoming celebration last month. Significant in our celebration was the dedication of the new Dianne C. Shumaker Hall Sorority Houses and Greek Commons.

You will enjoy this issue’s cover story about how the dream of Shumaker Hall became a reality, and about visionary and generous women who made it possible.

With the dedication of Shumaker Hall, the first campus building named solely for a woman, I could not miss the perfect opportunity to reflect on the many strong women whose lives, abilities and actions have influenced the course of our College. Dr. Georgia Bowman, the legendary Jewell professor who made the first gift to the sorority project, chronicled many of their stories in her 1984 book The Distaff Side: Women at William Jewell. 

Dr. Bowman recounts the story of Mrs. Leona McReynolds Kresse ’20, Jewell’s first woman graduate, a minister’s wife who found time not only to care for an infant child but also to attend classes, maintain a home, serve as president of a new co-ed organization, play center on the new women’s basketball team and fulfill her duties as the College’s first woman undergraduate student assistant.

Other fascinating stories found on the pages of The Distaff Side include those of the first female faculty member, Mary Elmore, who came to Jewell in 1928; Virginia D. Rice ’28, who in addition to teaching a full schedule of English courses also directed the College’s theater productions; the beloved Lutie Chiles ’35, the College’s first director of elementary education, who became a nationally known leader in early childhood education and was recognized with the Citation for Achievement in 1982; and many others.

These early leaders at Jewell cleared the path for future generations of women who have also made their mark on the College. The student experience at William Jewell has been immeasurably enriched by remarkable faculty members such as Dr. Ann Marie Shannon, the first Senior Tutor of the College’s acclaimed Oxbridge Honors Program, and Dr. Judith Dilts, who secured early funding for a National Science Foundation grant that integrated technology into the College’s biology curriculum. This summer, we welcomed back Dr. Darlene Bailey, class of 1982, as our new Athletic Director. She will lead the College through an important transition to membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Six alumnae currently serve on Jewell’s Board of Trustees:  Eileen Houston-Stewart ’79, Ann Cuneio Earnest ’77, Hazel Oglesby Michajliczenko ’73, Linda Pillsbury Roos ’68, Dianne Jeter Shumaker ’66 and Deborah Unger Wardrop ’78.

Far from an exhaustive list, this is a representative sampling of the scores of remarkable achievements of women at Jewell. We are grateful to the donors whose gifts to Shumaker Hall provide a living and learning environment in which future generations of Jewell women will thrive as they lead and achieve.