Women at Carolina: Teaching

"Teaching" refers to the work of women teachers, instructors, and faculty on campus, including curriculum (programs, courses, departments).

Wilson Special Collections Library holds the papers of some faculty members and records of teaching. Some examples include:

Doris Betts Papers, 1932-2012

Doris Betts (1932-2012) was a white North Carolina author and Alumni Distinguished Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, printed material, speeches, audio recordings, video recordings, photographs, and other materials. The bulk of Betts's correspondence is with editors, publishers, other college English professors, and literary organizations, although there are also some personal letters.

Margaret Anne O'Connor Papers, 1972-1989

Margaret Anne O'Connor taught the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's first course on Women in Literature in the spring of 1972 and helped form the Women's Studies curriculum. Throughout her career she continued to teach courses relating to women at both the undergraduate and graduate level. The collection includes files on organizations with which Margaret O'Connor was involved and publications relating to women's organizations and issues. Organizational materials are letters, minutes of meetings, brochures, and other materials from organizations supporting women faculty, affirmative action, and related course work. Organizations include the Faculty Council's Status of Women Committee and Women's Studies Advisory Board; the Association for Women Faculty; University Women for Affirmative Action; the Women's Forum, an advisory board to the Association of Women Students, publisher of the She newsletter; and the American Association of University Professors, for which O'Connor chaired Committee W for several years. Much of the material is about efforts to create a Women's Studies program on campus and contains letters, surveys, course descriptions, and other items. Printed materials include newspaper clippings about national and local Chapel Hill, N.C., events; the She newsletter; and other publications.

Elsie Earle Lawson Modern Dance Ephemera, 1941-1942

Ephemera collected by Elsie Earle Lawson, a UNC dance instructor, dance associate of the Carolina Playmakers, and advisor to the Carolina Modern Dance Club. Materials include programs for performances and conferences, photos of dancers, and news releases and clippings about the dance program.

Women's Studies was formed as a program in 1976, then a curriculum during the 1992-1993 academic year. In 2012 it became the Department of Women's and Gender Studies. Many individuals and groups were involved in the conversations and planning around forming a curriculum, including faculty, administrators, and students. Therefore, material about this subject is across collections. To find it all, go to the Wilson search page and search across archival collections for "women's studies."

Some highlights:

Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1917-2002 (bulk 1960-1997)

The dean has administrative responsibility for the university's College of Arts and Sciences and its constituent, the General College, which together provide the curricula leading to most baccalaureate degrees. The College of Arts and Sciences was created in 1935 by the merger of the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Applied Science. The General College was a separate entity until 1961, when it was merged into the College of Arts and Sciences.

Margaret Anne O'Connor Papers, 1972-1989

Margaret Anne O'Connor taught the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's first course on Women in Literature in the spring of 1972 and helped form the Women's Studies curriculum.

Office of Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Nelson Ferebee Taylor Records, 1972-1980

Nelson Ferebee Taylor was the chief administrative officer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1 February 1972 until 31 January 1980, therefore in office when Women's Studies was first started. Search page for "women's studies."

Office of the Provost of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1917-2017 (bulk 1954-2013)

The Provost is the university's chief academic officer, serving as liaison between the Chancellor and various deans and directors. Of particular interest: Box 15 Gay and Lesbian Studies, 1993-1996, Box 196 Gay and Lesbian Studies, Committee on, 1997-1999 (Contains materials relating to the Williamson Committee, a group formed to develop LGBTQ courses funded by a bequest made to the University in 1996 by alumnus Dr. Charles Williamson.)

Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1917-2002 (bulk 1960-1997)

See Box 7:1 Public Health, School of: Health Education, Department of: Health Education 33: Topics in Human Sexuality, 1971-1973

Office of the Dean of Women of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1897-1981

See Marriage and the Family, 1937-1942 course, Box 1, Inez Koonce Stacy Series, 1897-1946.

Latina/o Studies Program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1999-2018

The Latina/o Studies Program, housed in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, was founded in fall 2004 by Dr. María DeGuzmán. The program offers classes across multiple departments focused on the study of Latina/Latino/Latinx cultures. The program sponsors the UNC Latina/o Culture Speakers Series, which began in 1999. Since spring 2013, the program has also included the UNC Teatro Latina/o Series. Records consist of clippings related to the Latina/o Studies Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, informational and promotional materials, a list of speakers hosted by the program, records related to the Latino Alumni Reunion, a report on Hispanic Heritage Month, materials related to the proposal of a Latina/o Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, and ephemera. Materials on the Carolina Latina/o Collaborative and digital materials on the Latina/o Studies Program are from the files of John Ribó, former Latina/o Studies program assistant. Also included is a transcript of an interview conducted by student Gladys Sanchez with program director María DeGuzmán in 2017.

Association for Women Faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1978-1991

The Association for Women Faculty was formed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the summer of 1978 to promote intellectual and social contact among women faculty members. At monthly meetings, the association, led by its elected officers and Board of Directors, discussed topics of interest to the university's female staff. The records of the Association for Women Faculty include its constitution and bylaws, correspondence, membership lists, minutes of meetings, publicity, lists of officers, and records of honors and awards.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapter of the American Association of University Professors Records, 1948-1993

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) was organized on 1-2 January 1915 in New York, N.Y., to promote the advancement of the standards, ideals, and welfare of the faculty at institutions of higher education. The Association has been most active in the areas of academic freedom and tenure. Thirteen professors at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill organized a chapter of the AAUP in 1916. Records of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapter of the American Association of University Professors include committee minutes, committee reports, minutes of general and business meetings, chapter correspondence with national and regional AAUP officers, treasurers' records and reports, and files on the activities of the local chapter. Topics of particular concern to the chapter have been academic freedom and tenure, affirmative action, economic standing of the faculty, faculty welfare, mandatory retirement age, sexual harassment, status of women, and university government.

Status of Women Committee, 1972-1997, in General Faculty and Faculty Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1799-2015

The Status of Women Committee, created in 1973, is a standing committee of the university's faculty. It is appointed by the chair of the faculty and is responsible for investigating and making recommendations on problems affecting women faculty members. Records of the committee, 1973-1997, include correspondence (some regarding affirmative action), minutes of meetings, annual reports to the Faculty Council, and various surveys and studies concerning issues affecting women at the university, particularly salary and benefit inequities and child care.

Women's Concerns Coalition of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1988-1996

The Women's Concerns Coalition formed in the summer of 1988 in preparation for the installation of Chancellor Paul Hardin. Its purpose was to allow leaders from various campus organizations that dealt with issues of concern for women to present their views and priorities to the new chancellor with a unified voice. Following Chancellor Hardin's installation, the group regularly discussed university reports and policies pertaining to women. Meetings and discussions on such topics became the basis for coalition statements and recommendations that were presented to campus administrative leaders. These statements dealt with issues ranging from child care to faculty development to harassment policies.

Carolina Black Caucus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1973-2013

Records document the administration, goals, and programs of the Black Faculty Staff Caucus (BFSC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Chairs and leaders of the BFSC represented in these records include Charles E. Daye, Harold G. Wallace, Audreye E. Johnson, Darnell Hawkins, Clifford H. Charles, Zenobia Hatcher-Wilson, and Sonja Haynes Stone.

University of North Carolina: University Faculty and Diversity, 1960-1990

Relating to an SOHP-coordinated and Association for Women Faculty (AWFP)-initiated project commemorating the AWFP's 30th anniversary, these interviews were conducted in 2007 and 2008 with professors, activists, and other community members. Founded at UNC Chapel Hill in 1978 by leading women faculty and administrators, the AWFP seeks to advance the status of women on campus. The interviews address changing hiring practices, tenure and promotion policies, department cultures, discrimination and affirmative action, and the role of minority and women faculty on campus between 1960 and 1990.

An additional four interviews (L-0384 to L-0387) were conducted in 2012 by Brooke Midkiff, PhD candidate at the UNC School of Education, as part of her research on women faculty's discourse about feminism, themselves, and their professional experiences as scholars in the current higher education environment.

In summer 2014, SOHP field scholar Katie Womble conducted four additional interviews with female faculty members hired in the 1970s and 1980s at UNC Chapel Hill.