Douglass Residential College, is an undergraduate, non degree granting higher education program of
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...
for women. It succeeded the liberal arts degree-granting Douglass College after it was merged with the other undergraduate liberal arts colleges at Rutgers-New Brunswick to form the School of Arts and Sciences in 2007. Originally named the New Jersey College for Women when founded in 1918 as a degree granting college, it was renamed Douglass College in 1955 in honor of its first dean. Now called Douglass Residential College, it is no longer a degree granting unit of Rutgers, but is a supplementary program that female undergraduate students attending the Rutgers-New Brunswick undergraduate schools may choose to join.
Female students enrolled at any of the academic undergraduate schools at Rutgers–New Brunswick, including, e.g., the School of Arts and Sciences,
School of Engineering
Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...
School of Pharmacy
The basic requirement for pharmacists
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist ( Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distribute ...
,
Mason Gross School of the Arts
Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is named for Mason W. Gross, the sixteenth president of Rutgers. Mason Gross offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, Theater, Digi ...
, may now also enroll in Douglass Residential College, which offers special enrichment and career preparation experiences, special projects, and educational and service travel, and at which they must satisfy additional requirements specific to the college. Douglass seeks to provide the benefits of a close-knit small community of women students and offers programs specially designed to help women students to identify their unique abilities and develop confidence. These programs include, for example, a strong emphasis on opportunities to participate in service/learning trips in foreign countries, support for and expansion of racial and cultural diversity, and a wide range of training and enrichment activities offered by a career and leadership development center known as the "BOLD" Center (acronym for Building Opportunities for Leadership and Career Development).
Deans
*
Mabel Smith Douglass Mabel Smith Douglass (February 11, 1874 – September 21, 1933) was the first dean, in 1918, of the New Jersey College for Women in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In 1955, the college was renamed Douglass College in her honor.
Life
Douglass was appoint ...
(1918–1932): A graduate of Barnard College, Mabel Smith Douglass was a leader of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs.
* Margaret Trumbull Corwin (1934–1955): A graduate of Bryn Mawr with a master's degree from Yale. It was during Dean Corwin’s tenure that the New Jersey College for Women became Douglass College.
* Mary Bunting (1955–1960): A graduate of Vassar with advanced degrees in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin. She resigned to become president of Radcliffe.
* Ruth Marie Adams (1960–1966): An Adelphi graduate with a doctorate in English from Radcliffe. She resigned to become president of Wellesley.
* Margery Somers Foster (1967–1975): A graduate of Wellesley with a doctorate in economics from Radcliffe.
*
Jewel Plummer Cobb
Jewel Plummer Cobb (January 17, 1924 – January 1, 2017) was an American biologist, cancer researcher, professor, dean, and academic administrator. She contributed to the field of cancer research by studying the cure for melanoma. Cobb was an adv ...
(1976–1981): A graduate of Talladega College in Alabama with advanced degrees in cell biology from New York University. She resigned to become president of California State University at Fullerton.
* Mary S. Hartman (1982–1994): A graduate of Swarthmore with an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in history, Mary S. Hartman became a member of the Douglass History Department in 1968 (Institute for Women’s Leadership, 2004, p. 1). She served as director of the Women’s Studies Institute from 1975 to 1977, was named acting dean in 1981, and dean in 1982. She resigned to become director of the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University.
* Barbara A. Shailor (1996–2001): A graduate of Wilson College with a master's degree and doctorate in classics from the University of Cincinnati. She resigned to become Director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. She was appointed the Deputy Provost for the Arts at Yale University in 2003.
*
Carmen Twillie Ambar
Carmen Twillie Ambar (born July 3, 1968) is an American attorney, academic, and the current president of Oberlin College in Ohio. She was appointed to the post in May 2017.
In 2002, she became the ninth woman to lead Douglass College and the y ...
(2002–2008): A graduate of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Carmen Twillie Ambar earned a law degree from Columbia School of Law and a master’s in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2008, Ambar resigned to become president of
Cedar Crest College
Cedar Crest College is a private liberal arts women's college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At the start of the 2015-2016 academic year, the college had 1,301 undergraduates (628 traditional age, 673 adult) and 203 graduate students. Men may pu ...
in Allentown, PA, and in 2017 she became President of Oberlin College..
* Jacquelyn S. Litt (2010–2022): A graduate of William Smith College with an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from University of Pennsylvania.
Notable alumnae and year of graduation
*
Alice Aycock
Alice Aycock (born November 20, 1946) is an American sculptor and installation artist. She was an early artist in the land art movement in the 1970s, and has created many large-scale metal sculptures around the world. Aycock's drawings and sculp ...
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
*
Chris Dailey
Christine A. Dailey (born September 7, 1959) is an American women's basketball coach, who has been the associate head coach for the Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team since 1988. Dailey was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of F ...
DC'82:
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's ba ...
-member associate head coach for
Connecticut Huskies women's basketball
The UConn Huskies women's basketball team is the college basketball program representing the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, in NCAA Division I women's basketball competition. They completed a seven-season tenure in the America ...
*
Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich (née Schneider; April 22, 1943) is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Step ...
DC'65: author
*
Jeanne Fox
Jeanne Fox is the former President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. She was originally appointed to the position in 2002 by former Gov. James McGreevey and was retained in the Cabinets of former Gov. Richard Codey and Gov. Jon Cor ...
DC'74: Former president, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
* Barbara S. Held, DC' Professor of Psychology and Social Studies
* Helen Hall Jennings NJCW'27: American scientist in the fields of psychology and sociology
*
Jaynee LaVecchia
Jaynee LaVecchia (born October 9, 1954) is a former associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. She was nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman to serve on the court on January 6, 2000 and was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate on ...
DC'76: New Jersey Supreme Court Justice
* Linda Lindroth DC'68: American artist, photographer, and writer
* Susan Martin DC'68: retired Georgetown University professor, expert on international migrations
*
Imbolo Mbue
Imbolo Mbue (born 1981) is a Cameroonian-American novelist and short-story writer based in New York City. She is known for her debut novel '' Behold the Dreamers'' (2016), which has garnered her the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Blue M ...
DC'02: Novelist
* Janet L. Norwood DC'45: economist, US Commissioner of Labor Statistics (1979–1991)
*
Judith Shatin
Judith Shatin (Allen) (b. November 21, 1949) is an American composer. Currently, she is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor at the University of Virginia. She also founded and is Director of the Virginia Center for Computer Music.Joann H. Smith NJC or DC?, politician who served in the
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...
from the 13th Legislative District
* Kathleen C. Taylor, DC'64, award-winning chemist and automotive engineer
* Freda L. Wolfson DC'76: Judge, U.S. District Court, D. N.J.
* Joanne Yatvin, NJCW'52: President of the National Council of Teachers of English (2006–2007), author of books and articles for teachers