In Memoriam: Nancy Ransom, 1929-2018

Nancy Ransom, the inaugural director of the the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, died late last month in Wilmington, Delaware. She was 89 years old and had suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Dr. Ransom was a graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where she majored in history. In 1961, she moved to Nashville when her husband joined the political science faculty at Vanderbilt University. After raising a family, Nancy Ransom returned to higher education and earned a master degree in education in 1971. In 1978, she was appointed as the founding director of the university’s Women’s Center and served in that role for nearly 20 years. During this period, Dr. Ransom earned a doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Ransom was instrumental in the founding of the women’s studies program at Vanderbilt and the first university-sponsored childcare center on campus. She also taught courses in sociology and women’s studies.