Office of Inclusion & Intercultural Relations

10 Womxn Who Changed Illinois

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To begin our year of celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Women's Resource Center, we highlighted 10 womxn who have changed (and continue to change) Illinois. The online series ran in honor of Womxn's History Month in March 2019 and is available for download and sharing on our Facebook page.

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Grace Wilson was the first woman to have the rank of Assistant Professor in the Illinois College of Engineering, joing the Dept. of General Engineering in 1946. During her tenure she increased women's enrollement in the College from 14 women, to 75 women

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As a student, Charlene Teters (Spokane) reacted strongly to the performance of a pseudo-Native American dance by a student portraying Chief Illiniwek. Her efforts led to widespread activism, that eventually led to the retirement of the mascot.

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Ann Weldy (pen name: Ann Bannon) graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in French in 1954. As an alum, Ann wrote six lesbian pulp fiction novels known as “The Beebo Brinker Chronicles.”

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Evelyne Accad began teaching at Illinois in 1974 as an Assistant Professor in French and Comparative Literature, eventually becoming a Full Professor in 1988. She is recognized as one of the first feminist scholars to speak out against genital mutilation

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Lucy Flower was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1895, and as the first women serving as a Trustee, she was consequently, the first elected woman to serve as an official in the state of Illinois.

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Karol Kahrs is known for her pivotal role in creating what is now the vast women’s intercollegiate athletics program at Illinois.

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As Chair, Isabel Molina Guzman led the Latina/Latino Studies program in its transition to departmental status, and in 2016, became Associate Dean of the Graduate College.

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Ruth Nicole Brown founded Saving Our Lives, Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT) an ongoing practice-based, publicly engaged, collectively organized space for Black girls to envision Black girlhood anew.

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Sharon Hedrick holds two Masters degrees from the University of Illinois, and was the first woman to be a wheelchair competitor in the Boston Marathon, competing in 1977.