Mary Ethel Creswell graduation photo 1919

Mary Ethel Creswell (October 15, 1879 – August 7, 1960) was the first female to receive an

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

degree from the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

(UGA) in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. In 1918, Creswell was appointed the head of the newly created Division of Home Economics for the University. The following year, she received a

baccalaureate degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

(

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

Home Economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

) from the University. In 1933, UGA established the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and Creswell was named as the first dean and served in that position until her retirement in 1945. She continued to teach in the college as a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

until 1949. Creswell was a charter member of the

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...

honor society at UGA and its first female president, and she was the first female recipient of the Georgia Alumni Award for outstanding service to the University in 1949. Creswell died in Athens, Georgia on August 7, 1960. Creswell Hall, a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

that houses nearly a thousand students, is named in her honor.

References

UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences Alumni Honor Hall of Recognition
* ttp://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/uga97-105_152.html Mary Ethel Creswell Papers 1900-1960, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia 1879 births 1960 deaths University of Georgia faculty American women academics University of Georgia alumni 20th-century American academics Women deans (academic) American university and college faculty deans {{US-academic-bio-stub