By Mary Lee | March 7, 2025
WashU has a long history of educating exceptional women. In 1869, the law school admitted Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins, making it the first chartered law school in the country to welcome women. Barkeloo became the first woman to try a case in an American court. Couzins was the first female U.S. Marshal and helped found the National Woman Suffrage Association.
Alice Mary Belcher was the first woman to enroll in the undergraduate program. During her one year of study, from 1870-1871, she surpassed the men in her class, earning an 84% average. In 1876, Ada Calista Fisher and Mary Josephine Rychlicki became the first women to earn undergraduate degrees.
In 1895, botanist Anna Isabel Mulford received the first PhD awarded by the university. Her dissertation examined agave plants in the United States. During the course of her studies, she discovered several species, including Mulfords milvetch, a rare member of the pea family.
Fast-forward to the present: WashU alumnae continue to achieve in every field of endeavor. Click below to read recent stories about outstanding female graduates.
Preparing for take off
Alumna Jenelle Cooper, MS ’12, brings a lifelong love of aviation to her career as an aerospace engineer and team manager at Boeing.
From intern to CEO
While a student at WashU, Nina Leigh Krueger, MBA ’94, joined Purina as an intern and never left. Now, she’s the company’s first female CEO of the Americas.
Empowering next-generation indigenous leaders
Stacy Leeds, AB ’94, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, leads by example as dean of Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
A life of words
Alumna Leslye Lyons, AB ’79, founded the nonprofit Words Alive to help children and teens find joy in reading. Twenty-five years later, the program increases literacy engagement for more than 5,000 kids a year.
Presidential curation
Crystal Marie Moten, AB ’04, a historian who serves as curator of collections and exhibitions at the Obama Presidential Center Museum, wants visitors to the museum to see themselves in history.
Beyond the diagnosis
Patricia Saleeby, PhD ’05, helped develop and enhance the ICF, a classification system that enables better patient care around the world.
Building a sustainable fashion brand
With creativity and determination, Jillian Shatken, BFA ’07, is leading her fashion line, Saylor, toward a most important trend: sustainability.
More WashU female firsts
Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low, was an art student who became WashU’s first female faculty member. She served in the art school from 1882-1885. While there, she persuaded the school to change its policy prohibiting women from drawing nude models. She went on to become a successful painter and muralist who specialized in landscapes, genre paintings, and portraits. (Photo: WashU Archives) 
Faye Cashatt Lewis was the first woman to graduate from the WashU’s medical school. After earning her degree in 1921, she married a classmate and moved to Webster City, Iowa, where she raised a family, practiced medicine, and wrote several books. She retired in 1970. Her son, Malcolm, graduated from the medical school in 1952. (Photo: Becker Medical Library) 
In 1947, Gerty Cori, a professor in the medical school, became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in science. The prize — also awarded to her husband, Carl Cori, and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay — recognized research in the area of carbohydrate metabolism. (Photo: Becker Medical Library)
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‘Pride and discipline:’ A brief history of women’s sports at WashU
From humble beginnings more than 100 years ago, women’s athletics at Washington University rose to remarkable success within NCAA Division III.
From Umrath to Antarctica: Alumnae friends explore the world
Kristen Haut and Julie Katz, both AB ’02, have visited 22 countries together since graduation.