Historic firsts for Spartan women

Eva Coryell, third from the left in the back row of this image, was the first woman to graduate from MSU in 1879 with a Bachelor of Science. Here, Coryell is pictured with her classmates in front of the Rock in its original location near the current site of Beaumont Tower. 

In 1886, Mary Jane Cliff Merrill Carpenter became the first woman to earn a Master of Science at the university. She later became the first female member of the staff as a librarian. 

Known to many as simply Landon Hall, its namesake was the first woman instructor on campus, who also served as a librarian from 1891 to 1932. Linda Landon is credited for facilitating the expansion of the Library, doubling it in size and quadrupling the number of books available for students.

Myrtle Craig Mowbray stands out on this yearbook page as the first Black woman to graduate from MSU in 1907. Mowbray would go on to teach at several high schools, colleges and universities in the Kansas City area before retiring from the faculty at Lincoln University.

This page of a commencement program serves as a historical record of Julia Loomis Matthews, who earned a doctorate in 1930. She was the first woman to receive a doctorate from MSU and just the second student to do so in chemistry.

Growing up less than 25 miles from campus, Ethel V. Lyon was the first woman granted permission to enroll in engineering in 1932. After graduation, she went on to work as a lighting adviser in the electrical industry in Grand Rapids.