{"id":26925,"date":"2026-02-02T13:01:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=26925"},"modified":"2026-02-05T10:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:48:08","slug":"clark-women-of-historical-impact-earn-recognition-from-students","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/02\/clark-women-of-historical-impact-earn-recognition-from-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Clark women of historical impact earn recognition from students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

(Standing) Professor Mindy Marchand, Kihm Calico \u201928, Cole Gushee-Nelson \u201926, Tristan Cousineau \u201927, Isabella Hagen \u201928, Alistair Borg \u201925, Jules Opulencia \u201925, Derek Fino \u201926, and Cindy Shenette, head of Archives and Special Collections. (Kneeling) Rose Marble \u201928, Alyssa Ritskowitz \u201928, Weslee Tyler \u201927, Ella Medeiros \u201928, and Abby St. Amand \u201925.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A prison reformer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A naturalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A geographer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A child psychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were among the women with ties to Clark University whose accomplishments often transcended their time. These women pushed against societal, cultural, and academic norms they deemed unacceptable to make a deep impact at Clark and throughout the wider world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their achievements were brought to life through research conducted by students in the Women in Public (History) course taught last semester by Professor Melinda Marchand in the Department of History.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marchand\u2019s students partnered with Cindy Shenette, head of Archives and Special Collections, to investigate and chronicle the women\u2019s stories, then showcase them in a Goddard Library poster presentation at the conclusion of the fall semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Students<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to Marchand, her students \u201cbalance public history with academic history\u201d in a way that not only hones their research skills but also \u201cmakes good citizens.\u201d To that end, Marchand has forged community partnerships throughout Worcester County to generate engaging opportunities for student public history projects, including one last summer that traced the origins of the EcoTarium<\/a>, the city\u2019s renowned museum of science and nature, which was founded in 1825 as the Worcester Lyceum of Natural History.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The December poster display was the culmination of hours spent in the Archives learning about Clark\u2019s groundbreaking women. The work gave students an inroad into discovering how the women\u2019s contributions have been represented in public history and to studying cultural perspectives surrounding their individual and collective impacts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are some of the Clark women featured in the exhibition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irene Yurkevicz \u201973 fought for reproductive justice as one of the originators and later director of the student-run Birth Control Information Center, which led education and counseling initiatives on campus and in colleges and high schools in Worcester. Her story was recounted by history major Weslee Tyler \u201927 in a display that included newspaper clippings of Yurkevicz\u2019s work to expand birth control information services in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M. Hazel Hughes, Clark\u2019s dean of women and first women\u2019s basketball coach, arrived at Clark in 1942, just as the formerly all-male University was welcoming its first women students. During her 26 years at Clark, Hughes was an indefatigable advocate for all Clark women, especially student-athletes<\/a>, and her leadership and commitment are reflected in the M. Hazel Hughes Award, presented annually to an accomplished senior female athlete. Rose Marble \u201928, a club basketball player herself, wrote about Hughes\u2019 contributions for the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Students<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The poster display noted several \u201cfirsts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining the Clark faculty in 1922, geographer Ellen Churchill Semple was the University\u2019s first female faculty member as well as the first female president of the American Association of Geographers (Semple\u2019s story was presented by\u00a0Alyssa Ritskowitz \u201928). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jessie Cunningham of the English Department would later become the first female professor to receive tenure at Clark. Cunningham\u2019s background was researched by Isabella Hagen \u201928, who is double-majoring in history and sociology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Caroline Amelia Osborne was the first woman to earn a doctorate at Clark, noted Derek Fino \u201926. She\u2019d already earned her medical degree from the Women\u2019s Medical College of Pennsylvania before studying biology, psychology, and psychiatry at Clark, receiving her Ph.D. in 1908. Osborne later worked as a physician and psychologist in the treatment of children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miriam Van Waters, Ph.D. 1913 (researched by Tristan Cousineau \u201927), was a renowned penal system reformer who advocated for rehabilitation rather than punishment as the better course for easing the transition from incarceration to civic life. Van Waters\u2019 reforms made headway during her term as superintendent of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women, with her efforts receiving special acclaim from Eleanor Roosevelt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margaret Morse Nice, M.A. 1923, wrote 250 scholarly articles about birds, and an astounding 3,313 reviews and summaries. According to student researcher Kihm Calico \u201928, her first well-known ornithological publication was \u201cStudies in the Life and History of the Song Sparrow,\u201d which was described at the time by Nobel Prize-winning animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz as \u201cthe first long-term field investigation of the individual life of any free-living wild animal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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