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RI’s Providence College holds 50th reunion of first coed class
Providence College opens its new nursing building to students Providence College opens its new nursing building to students Providence College admitted women to its undergraduate program for the first time in 1970, with the first female students moving into a dorm in 1971. The first four-year graduating class of women at Providence College, the Class […]


Providence College opens its new nursing building to students
Providence College opens its new nursing building to students
- Providence College admitted women to its undergraduate program for the first time in 1970, with the first female students moving into a dorm in 1971.
- The first four-year graduating class of women at Providence College, the Class of 1975, celebrates their 50th reunion.
- While the Class of 1975 was the first full four-year graduating class of women, some women had previously completed degrees at PC after transferring from other institutions.
- By 1978, women outnumbered men in the freshman class at Providence College.
PROVIDENCE – This is a story of one thing following another:
In 1970, Providence College voted to, for the first time, admit women to its undergraduate day school.
On Sept. 7, 1971, the first female residents moved into a PC dorm, Aquinas Hall.
At PC’s 1975 graduation, 239 women joined 477 men and became the first class to complete a four-year undergraduate education at the college.
So, it only follows that on the final weekend of May, women from that class are among those gathering for their 50th college reunion.
“It was an all-male school, and suddenly 168 of us walk on campus, and it’s never been the same,” said Ana Margarita Cabrera, a member of the graduating class and editor of that year’s yearbook, Veritas.
Adjusting to women on campus took time in 1975
Cabrera described growing pains for the suddenly co-ed college, recalling how men reacted when spotting a woman on campus. “They would hang out the windows and go, ‘There goes another one,'” she said. “I thought it was funny at the time.”
Some of the adjustments were logistical, Cabrera said, recalling one building she needed to visit on campus. “I think they only had one bathroom.”
She said she didn’t experience any protests against women on campus, although she had heard about those happening the year before women arrived.
That first class of women knew they were pioneers, though.
“I don’t think I can say one person can feel the weight of history, but I was aware of it,” she said. “I met some incredible women. I was proud to be part of that bunch.”
Besides their mere presence, women in the Class of 1975 scored a number of firsts, including:
- Lisa Connolly Gilbride, athlete of the year
- Barbara J. Quinn Witbeck, National Alumni Award
- Pamela Chase, Fulbright Scholar
And then there was the trio who became known as “The Triumvirate:” Patricia L. Slonina Vieira, editor of the campus literary journal; Ann M. Frank, editor of the campus newspaper; and yearbook editor Cabrera.
But members of the Class of 1975 weren’t the first women to get their undergraduate degrees from PC. After women were allowed to enroll, a number of women completed bachelor’s degrees that they had begun elsewhere. In 1972, Sister Bernadine M. Egleston became the first woman to get an undergraduate degree there, a bachelor’s in art. And, perhaps most famously, the following year, Maureen McKenna Goldberg, who would go on to become a Rhode Island Supreme Court justice, graduated from PC after starting her education at what’s now Salve Regina University.
And speaking of one thing following another, this one came pretty much on the heels of that class that began its studies in 1971:
In 1978, women outnumbered men in the freshman class for the first time.