Carthage celebrates 150 years of educating women

On Friday, Oct. 11, the first day of Homecoming Weekend, Carthage will launch our yearlong celebration commemorating 150 years of enrolling women. Our launch event will feature an immersive timeline that highlights the women and moments unique to our College. President John Swallow and his wife Cameron Swallow will address how the 150 Years of Carthage Women Celebration enables us as a community to not only reflect on and celebrate our past, but to redefine what it means to be a woman at Carthage and build a better future. The celebration co-chairs, Gina Madrigrano Friebus and Maria Markusen, along with the 77 women on our volunteer committee, invite you to join trustees, current students, celebrated alumni, and current and former faculty members as we kick-off this exciting year!

Carthage College was among the first 50 universities in the United States to enroll women. A century and a half ago, this small Midwestern college, guided by our Lutheran values, demonstrated a progressive and instinctive sense of what society needed and actively took steps to meet those needs. In 1870, the College became part of the first wave of co-ed institutions of higher learning.

Carthage will celebrate 150 years of educating women with a full slate of exciting events starting in Fall 2019 and continuing through Fall 2020. In addition to special programming, we will seek ways to ensure a strong and bright future for Carthage women of tomorrow through a robust fundraising effort targeted at creating funds to support women through estate gifts, scholarships, and women’s athletics programs and places.

Learn more about upcoming programs, fundraising goals, and hear stories of inspiring Carthage women at www.carthage.edu/women150.