A Herstory of Yale Divinity School: Women at YDS, 1907–Today

Trailblazers

The Rev. Dr. Sarah Drummond

First woman Dean of Andover Newton Seminary, 2019

Dr. Rebecca Chopp

First woman Dean of Yale Divinity School, 2001

Dr. M. Shawn Copeland

First Black woman faculty member, Yale Divinity School, 1989

Dr. Phyllis Trible

First woman to give a Beecher Lecture as the only featured speaker, 1981

Martha Lund Smalley

First woman Curator of the Day Missions Collection and first woman Special Collections Librarian, 1976

Dr. Margaret Farley

First full-time woman faculty member, Yale Divinity School, 1971

The Rev. Joan Bates Forsberg

First Advocate for Women and first woman Registrar, Yale Divinity School, 1971

First woman Associate Dean for Student Life

First woman’s portrait to be displayed in the Common Room

Ana Ines Braulio

First Latinx graduate, Yale Divinity School, 1953

Caroline Chen

First Asian woman graduate, Yale Divinity School, 1950

The Rev. Dr. Rena Karefa-Smart

First black woman graduate, Yale Divinity School, 1945

First black woman to earn a Doctor of Theology degree, Harvard Divinity School

First female professor of color to receive tenure, Howard University School of Divinity

Clara Loveland

First woman graduate, Berkeley Episcopal Seminary, 1939

Esther Brown ‘34, Bernice Buehler ‘35 (pictured), Thelma Diener Allen ‘35 (pictured), and Gloria Diener Glover

First women enrolled in B.D. program, Yale Divinity School, 1932

Lottie Genevieve Bishop and Ethel Zivley Rather

First women students taking courses at Yale Divinity School, 1907