Ada Comstock

Ada Louise Comstock (December 11, 1876 – December 12, 1973) was an American women's education pioneer. She served as the first dean of women at the University of Minnesota and later as the first full-time president of Radcliffe College.

Early life and education Ada Louise Comstock was born on December 11, 1876, in Moorhead, Minnesota, to Solomon Gilman Comstock, an attorney, and Sarah Ball Comstock. Her father recognized her capabilities and potential and set about to cultivate them by encouraging an early and sound education for his daughter. The oldest of three children, Comstock graduated from Moorhead High School at age 15.

Comstock began her undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota in 1892, where she was a member of Delta Gamma woman's fraternity. After two years, she transferred to Smith College, graduating in 1897.

As a Smith student, Ada often questioned the established rules and norms of college life. While a resident of Hubbard House, she was given a case of champagne which the housemother felt should be given away. Instead, in what was characteristically her spirit, she decided to store it in the water cooler to refresh her friends.

Career

Comstock began her career at the University of Minnesota, where she was an assistant in the rhetoric department under Maria L. Sanford. She was promoted to the position of instructor in 1900 and assistant professor in 1904. She was appointed the school's first dean of women in 1907 and a full professor in 1909. She was instrumental in improving the quality of life for the women of the college, arguing persistently that a college was responsible for one's physical and intellectual well-being.

From 1921 to 1923, Ada Comstock served as president of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, now known as the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Comstock spent twenty years leading the school, strengthening its academic programs and, in 1943, persuaded Harvard to accept classroom coeducation. Also under President Comstock, Radcliffe was able to launch a nationwide admission program, improve student housing, construct new classroom buildings, and expand the graduate program.

After her retirement from Radcliffe, Comstock remained active in academia, serving on the Smith board of trustees, working on a graduate center for Radcliffe, and traveling extensively in support of her husband's research. Notestein died in 1969.

Death

On December 12, 1973, Notestein died of congestive heart failure at her home in New Haven, Connecticut. Comstock Hall in the Radcliffe Quad, and Comstock House residence hall at Smith College. She is also the namesake of Smith College's Ada Comstock Scholars Program, a transfer program for students who are not of a traditional college age. Smith College hosts a lecture series named for her as well.

Her childhood home is maintained as a historic site by the City of Moorhead and the Minnesota Historical Society.

Awards and honors 1943: Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1958: Jane Addams Medal, Rockford College 1966: Founder's Award, Radcliffe College 1967: Hollins Medal