Amherst College Honors Its First Woman Tenure-Track Faculty Member

Recently Amherst College, the highly rated liberal arts institution in western Massachusetts, unveiled a portrait of Rose Olver in the college’s historic Johnson Chapel. Dr. Olver, the L. Stanton Williams Professor of Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies Emerita at Amherst, is the first woman to have her portrait displayed in Amherst’s chapel.

Amherst College was founded in 1821 but did not admit women until 1975. But 13 years earlier in 1962, Rose Olver became the first woman hired to a tenure-track faculty position at Amherst. She later chaired the psychology department at the college.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Professor Olver stated, “Back then, the idea of a portrait of a woman in this hall was unimaginable.”

Dr. Olver is a 1958 graduate of Swarthmore College. She holds a Ph.D. from Radcliffe College.