Firsts
1907 - Cornelia Shaw: First to serve as a Davidson College Administrator when she was hired as College Librarian and as the Registrar
1956 - Caroline MacBreyer: First to become a regular, full-time faculty member as a member of the Psychology faculty
1961 - Bonnie Cone: First to receive an honorary doctorate from Davidson
1964 – C. Louise Nelson: First member of the Economics faculty
1970 – Geraldine A. Dwyer: First member of the Sociology faculty
1972 – Cynthia Grant: First member of the Biology faculty
1972 – Lois Kemp: First member of the Spanish faculty; First to head an academic department (Spanish)
1972 – Vicki Switzer '74: First to enroll after the Trustees' decision for full coeducation
1973 – Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans: First elected trustee
1973 – Marianna Boaz ("Missy") Woodward '73: First to receive a degree
1973 – Georgiana Ziegler: First member of the English faculty
1974 – Tracy Charles '74: First to letter in a varsity sport
1974 – Tonia K. Devon: First member of the Political Science faculty
1974-1975 – Susan Martin Parker '75: First to serve as full-time coach of a varsity team
1975 – Elizabeth Banes: First member of the Physics faculty
1975 – Elizabeth Chesney: First member of the French faculty
1975 – C. Louise Nelson: First to become a Full Professor
1975 - Susan Martin Parker: First to become Valedictorian
1976 – Mary Farmer '76: First to go on to medical school after Davidson College
1976 – Karen Husted Synder '76: First to be admitted as a first year (being related to a faculty member) and first to graduate after having spent four years at Davidson College
Kat Morton Achtemeier '77: First awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
Renee Denise Fanuiel Blackwell '77: First woman commissioned through ROTC
Rebecca E. Stimson '77: First to receive the Rebecca E. Stimson (Athletic) Award
1977-1978 – Rusk Eating House: First all womens' eating house established
Catherine Landis Henschen '78: First to edit The Davidsonian
Laurie Bingaman Lackey '79: First awarded a Watson Fellowship
Pamela Camerra-Rowe '80: First awarded a Fulbright Scholarship
Meg Campbell, Meredith Durden, Mary Hay, Mary Chester Morgan, and Jamie Watt: First women to be elected to the Honor Council (then known as the Hearing Committee)
1979 – Melinda Lesher: First member of the Art faculty
1980 – Cynthia A. Curtis '80: First to receive the Susan K. Roberts (Athletic) Award
1980 – Sarah Womack Parham '80: First to have her jersey retired
1981 – Anne R. Elliot: First elected president of the Black Student Coalition
1982 – Paula Miller Moore: First Black woman hired as Assistant Dean of Students
1982 – Emily Knobloch '82: First All-American athlete
1982 – Esther Wruck: First member of the German faculty
1982-1983 – S. Sherburne Laughlin '83: First elected Senior Class President
1983 – Susan Keefe: First member of the History faculty
1983 – Elizabeth E. Kiss '83: First chosen as a Rhodes Scholar
1983 - Rosemary Zumwalt: First member of the Anthropology faculty
1984 – Ruth Freitag: First member of the Chemistry faculty
1985-1986 – Lillian Grace "Beadsie" Woo '86: First elected SGA President
1986 – Carol Connor Willingham: First elected president of the Alumni Association
1987 – Reverend Brenda Tapia: Hired as the first woman assistant chaplain
1988 – Yvonne Kendall: First member of the Music faculty
1988 – Bonnie Marshall: First member of the Russian faculty
1988 – Rosemarie Tong: First member of the Philosophy faculty
1988 - Rosemary Zumwalt: First elected faculty vice-chair pro tem
1990 - Lynn Poland: First member of the Religion faculty
1992 – Maurya MacNeil '87: First alumna to become a regular, full-time faculty member
1992 – Donna Molinek: First member of the Mathematics faculty
1992 – Nancy Cable Wells: First to serve as Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
1992 – Class of 1996 women outnumber men in the class
1994 – Ann Marie Costa: First member of the Theatre faculty
1994 – Jeanne Neumann: First member of the Classics faculty
1995 – Nancy Fairley: First Black female professor to attain tenure
2000-2001 – Nancy Cable and Kristen Hills Bradberry: First women to become Vice-Presidents.
2011 – Carol E. Quillen: First female President
2011 - Verna Miller Case: Davidson’s first Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Research.
2012-13 – Gender and Sexuality Studies major added
2013 – Wendy Raymond: First female Vice President of Academic Affairs
2016 - Verna Miller Case: The college’s first Associate Dean of Faculty from 2016- 2018.
2019 – Alison Hall Mauzé: First alumna to chair the Board of Trustees
2019 – Antoinette McCorvey: First Black woman to be hired as Chief Financial Officer