All month long, we’ve been celebrating the history of women — in the world and on campus. We asked Abe when the University of Wisconsin began accepting female students. We shared stories from one of the first women to graduate from the UW. And we dug through the archives to find some seriously out-of-date style recommendations. Now, to round out our coverage of Women’s History Month, we present you with some very not round numbers and statistics about women on campus.
Zero
The number of female chancellors in the first 138 years of the UW’s history, 1849–1987.
Three
The number of female chancellors in the last 28 years of the UW’s history: Donna Shalala (1988¬–93), Carolyn “Biddy” Martin PhD’85 (2008–11), and Rebecca Blank (2013–present)
Seven
The number of campus buildings named after women. They are Helen C. White Hall; Vel Phillips, Susan B. Davis, and Elizabeth Waters Residence Halls; Nancy Nicholas Hall, home to the School of Human Ecology; Signe Skott Cooper Hall, the new School of Nursing building; and the Zoe Bayliss Co-Op.
50.82%
The percentage of women students enrolled in the Spring 2015–16 semester. Enrollment is beginning to even out — there are currently only 670 more women enrolled than men.
2,460
The largest majority women have held over men in the student body; it occurred in the fall of 2005.
40
The number of years that the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies has been on campus. Though it’s technically only seven, as “Gender and” wasn’t added until 2008. (For more history on the UW’s Gender and Women’s Studies program, watch for your next issue of Badger Insider magazine.)
3.317
The current average GPA of women on campus. The average GPA for male students is 3.17.
51%
The percentage of degrees awarded to women in 2014–15. In total, 5,303 degrees were granted to women, and 5,016 were awarded to men.
19.25%
The percentage of degrees awarded to women in the 2014–15 academic year from the College of Engineering. This percentage has been relatively steady for the past decade, but in 1985–86, women made up only 11.77% of engineering degrees.
86.93%
The percentage of degrees awarded to women in the 2014–15 academic year from the School of Human Ecology (SoHE). In 1985–86, 91.24% of SoHE degrees were to women.
