Pioneering Women

1931 Alma Katherine Ledig WG'31 becomes the first woman to earn a Wharton MBA, ten years after first MBA class was enrolled in 1921. She completed a 139-page thesis entitled “Training of Salespeople for Ready-to-Wear Departments” Wharton’s First Alumna: A Champion of Inclusive Education Go back to Wharton Women

1947 Hettie Simmons Love WG'47 is one of the first African Americans to earn an MBA from The Wharton School. While at Wharton, she was the only Black student and one of only two women in her class. Hettie was awarded a special Penn Pioneer certificate from Dean James in…Read More

2020 Erika H. James becomes the first woman to serve as dean in Wharton’s 139-year history. She is also the first person of color appointed dean in Wharton’s history. Go back to Wharton Women

1954 The first 15 women are admitted to the Wharton undergraduate program. Wharton was the third college at Penn to admit women behind the School of Nursing and the College of Arts and Sciences. Go back to Wharton Women

1954 Jean Andrus Crockett was the first female department chair at Wharton, the first woman to lead the Penn Faculty Senate, and the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. In 1989, she received the University’s Distinguished Faculty Award for “pioneering all-University leadership and for dedication to…Read More

1948 Professor Dorothy Swain Thomas becomes Wharton’s first female professor, appointed as a research professor of sociology. Dr. Thomas often wrote about demography, population redistribution, and economic growth, and served as research director of the U.S Population Studies Center. She served for 11 years. Go back to Wharton Women