rPAR@ ` jTEXT ` \Pendleton, Ellen Fitz1864╨1936educatorBorn in Westerly, Rhode Island, on August 7, 1864, Ellen Pendleton attended local public schools and in 1886 graduated from Wellesley College. She remained at Wellesley as a tutor in mathematics, Latin, and Greek until 1888, when she received an appointment as instructor in mathematics. In 1889╨1890 she pursued graduate studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, and in 1891 she was awarded an M.A. by Wellesley. In 1897 she became secretary of the college and in 1901 associate professor of mathematics, dean, and head of College Hall. She became acting president in 1910 and the next year was the first alumna to be elected president of Wellesley. She came to the post at the close of a decade of expansion and innovation, and she quickly proved to be ideally suited to administer a period of consolidation. In her 25 years as president Pendleton saw a small growth in the student body but a remarkable eightfold increase in endowment, to nearly $10 million, and a virtual rebuilding of the physical plant. The destruction by fire of College Hall, which contained most of the classrooms and offices, the library, dormitory quarters, and other facilities, in March 1914 brought out her highest leadership and organizational talents. After an early spring vacation Wellesley students were back in class in makeshift quarters in three weeks. A $3 million fund-raising campaign financed the construction of seven new brick buildings over the next decade; eight more followed before her retirement, in all comprising six dormitories, four apartment buildings for faculty and staff, three academic buildings, an alumnae-student building, and an administration building. On the academic side Pendleton instituted an honors program and resisted the introduction of either vocational or narrowly specialized courses of study. She was a strong supporter of academic freedom and opposed the dismissal by the trustees of Emily Greene Balch in 1918. She served at various times as president of the College Entrance Examination Board, president of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and vice-president of Phi Beta Kappa, and from 1923 she was the only woman juror for the American Peace Prize established by Edward Bok. She retired from Wellesley in 1936 and died a month later, on July 26, 1936, in Newton, Massachusetts. ╓styl `
! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ * !I Y 5¬ Z !I ╖ 5¬ ╕ !I « !I ▐ └ !I link ` HYPR « └
