From College to Institute: The Legacy of Newcomb (1886–today)

1886: A Memorial that Became a Movement

• Josephine Louise Newcomb donates $100,000 to Tulane University to establish H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in memory of her daughter. She gave $3.6M to the college over the course of her life and by bequest, making Newcomb College the only women’s college in the nation established by funds from a woman philanthropist. Brandt V.B. Dixon, a 19th-century educator who had experience in co-education of students was selected as its first president.
• Josephine Louise’s vision for the college was “to go on year by year doing good,” where “doing good” meant providing an education for women that leads to their leadership, service, and social impact, and can create opportunity for their personal income generation.

1890s: Innovation, Suffrage, and the Arts

• Clara Gregory Baer, Chair of Physical Education, publishes Basketball Rules for Women and Girls, introducing the one-handed and jump shots and inventing Newcomb Ball.
• The Newcomb Pottery enterprise transforms art into opportunity, training women as designers and artisans and gaining international recognition.
• Professor Evelyn Walton Ordway, Newcomb’s pioneering professor of chemistry and physics, co-founds the ERA (“Equal Rights for All”) Club of New Orleans in 1896 and later leads the Louisiana State Suffrage Association.
• Newcomb faculty and alumnae advocate for women’s suffrage and social progress through education, public health, and employment reform.

1910s–1940s: Civic Engagement, Service, and Growth

• In 1914, the Newcomb College Suffrage Club for students forms as one of the South’s earliest collegiate suffrage organizations.
• Newcomb relocates to Broadway Street in 1918, placing it near Tulane while retaining its independent identity. Acorns from the original campus are transplanted to the new grounds, establishing the enduring symbols -- the oak and acorn.
• During both World Wars, Newcomb women contribute to civic affairs, public service, and professional life, advancing women’s employment and embodying the college’s mission of education in service to the public good.

1950s–1960s: Desegregation, Education, and Expanding Rights

• In 1951, Anna Many (NC 1909) becomes Newcomb’s first woman dean, following a long and distinguished career as a professor in the mathematics department at Newcomb College.
• Tulane desegregates in 1963–1964. Deidre Dumas Labat (NC ’66) becomes the first Black woman to graduate from Newcomb College, marking a welcome end to segregation at the college.
• Newcomb faculty and alumnae engage in national conversations on women’s health, family life, and sex education, laying the foundation for later work on reproductive rights and public health.

1970s–1980s: Feminism and Equality in Education

• Alongside other women’s colleges nationally, focus on women’s studies research emerges with curriculum development. The Newcomb College Center for Research on Women (NCCROW) is founded in 1975, catalyzing feminist scholarship and women’s studies courses that lead to the first B.A. in Women’s Studies by 1988. The program later evolves into Gender & Sexuality Studies (GESS).
• Dr. Beth Willinger, a Professor of Sociology, served as Executive Director of NCCROW for twenty-five years (1982-2007), and served as interim Dean of Newcomb College from 1992-1993.
• Passage of Title IX in 1972 ensures equal access to education and athletics for women. Tulane awards its first varsity athletic scholarship for women enrolled at the university in 1976, advancing gender equality in athletics.
• In 1982, Newcomb alumnae join the “Jazz Funeral for the ERA” in New Orleans, symbolically mourning the amendment’s defeat while reaffirming commitment to women’s equality.
  “Fridays at Newcomb” begins in the late 1980s as a weekly public lecture series exploring women’s issues and research, becoming one of Tulane’s longest-running campus traditions.
• Tulane University reorganizes in 1987, eliminating the coordinate college administrative structure and merging Newcomb and Tulane college faculties. In this same year, the Newcomb Foundation is established to preserve Newcomb’s legacy, manage endowments, and sustain programs advancing women’s education and leadership, ensuring that the Newcomb endowment goes to Newcomb initiatives.

1990s–2006: Tradition Meets Transition

• By 1990, Newcomb College exists within a fully coeducational Tulane University.
• During the 1990s and early 2000s, archivist Susan Tucker played a key role in documenting and interpreting Newcomb College history through oral history and feminist scholarship, working closely with the Newcomb Archives, which she founded in 1988, to preserve alumnae and faculty voices.
• The 1990s saw a rise in consciousness around campus sexual assault. “Take Back the Night,” a survivor-centered march and speak-out to end sexual violence and preserve human rights for bodily autonomy, became an annual event at Tulane.
• In 2000, Dr. Cynthia Lowenthal, a longtime member of the Tulane English faculty, became the final Dean of Newcomb College serving until 2006. She led institutional restructuring in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the university’s Renewal Plan.
• In 2006, Tulane merged its liberal arts and sciences colleges for women and men, forming Newcomb-Tulane College. Prior to this point, the diplomas of women students in arts and sciences used to read Newcomb College of Tulane University; the diplomas of all undergraduates now read Newcomb-Tulane College of Tulane University.

2006–2010: Founding and Visibility

• With the end of Newcomb College began the creation of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute, which retained key elements of Newcomb College (e.g., the Newcomb Alumnae Association, Newcomb Student Organizations and Programs, the Newcomb Archives, the Newcomb Foundation), combining heritage preservation, research, and focus on women under one entity. The Institute opens in the historic Dean’s Residence at 43 Newcomb Place, linking it to the leadership lineage of Newcomb College.
• Dr. Rebecca Mark (2006–2008), founding Executive Director and a professor of English and Gender Studies, brings national visibility to Newcomb Institute through events, lectures, and convenings featuring scholars, artists, and community leaders focused on women’s issues and women in leadership.
• Dr. Molly Travis (2008–2010), interim Executive Director and a professor of English, strengthens academic programming, student engagement, and community partnerships, consolidating the Institute’s identity as both the living legacy of Newcomb College and a modern center for gender equity.
• The Newcomb Scholars cohort program for undergraduate women and the Under the Oaks graduation and awards ceremony event are sustained as traditions of Newcomb Institute.
• The Newcomb Alumnae Association (NAA) continues to foster the networks of alumnae across generations, including recent graduates, and protect the legacy of Newcomb College and its impacts locally and nationally. 

2010–2022: Strategic Growth, Education, and Inclusion

• Dr. Sally J. Kenney, Executive Director, 2010–2022, Nancy Reeves Dreaux Endowed Chair and Professor of Political Science, integrates teaching, research, and public service and enhanced the academic standing of the Institute, renamed the Newcomb Institute, restoring the confidence of Newcomb alumnae after the merger. She leads the Institute through more than a decade of strategic expansion, educational innovation, and campus collaboration.
• Under Dr. Kenney’s leadership, Newcomb Institute is renamed in recognition of our focus on research as well as education. During this time, she also leads efforts to give women in Louisiana prisons the opportunity to earn a Tulane degree and she publishes research on gender and judging.
• Tulane faculty from across campus are invited to join Newcomb Institute as faculty fellows and affiliates, supporting gender equity courses, training, and research. Newcomb Foundation grants are provided to these faculty to support their work.  
• Beginning in 2013, the Institute joins the national movement to combat sexual assault on campus, bringing speakers and films to campus and organizing symposia, working through a campus coalition to change policies, teaching courses, and creating a gender-based violence certificate for undergraduates.
• Newcomb Institute programs give students real-world educational opportunities, and the Reproductive Health and Rights Internship is created in 2017, supported by Donna and Richard Esteves. Research engagement on reproductive health and rights also expands with the launch of the Conceiving Equity Symposium in January 2018, a signature annual event with a nationally renowned speaker and student research presentations on reproductive health and rights in commemoration of the Roe v. Wade ruling.
• In 2017, Newcomb Institute co-leads, with the Mary Amelia Women’s Center (MAC) at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, the 2nd Report on the Health of Women and Girls in Louisiana, catalyzing the formation of the New Orleans Maternal and Child Health Coalition, which continues work today across Louisiana.
• The historic Dean’s House is razed in 2016, and by 2019, Dr. Kenney leads Newcomb Institute’s move into its new home on the third floor of the Malkin Sacks Commons, a central, light-filled space overlooking Newcomb Quad, with dedicated classroom and event space.
• The Institute expands to include all genders under evolving Title IX guidance, while topics of focus for student training retain emphasis on issues affecting women, including sexual violence and reproductive rights.

2023–Present: Renewing the Legacy for the Next Century

• Dr. Anita Raj (NC 1987-89) becomes Executive Director in 2023, expanding the Institute’s emphasis on research, scholarly productivity, and social impact, while continuing its tradition of focus on issues affecting women, including gender-based violence and reproductive rights, but also bringing focus to gendered risks for men and boys, including rising mental health concerns and disproportionate criminal justice system involvement.
• In 2023, Newcomb Institute launched the Louisiana Violence Experiences (LaVEX) study, providing statewide survey data on gender-based violence, to be collected biannually. The State of Women in New Orleans report was released in 2023 with the Junior League of New Orleans and, for the first time, in 2025, Newcomb Institute was involved with development of the UNFPA State of the World Population report.
• Student flagship programs are defined as Newcomb Scholars, Leaders, and Interns, to offer co-curricular training for students in research, leadership, and professional skills using a gender equity lens.
• Newcomb Institute Students directly link to the Newcomb Alumnae Association (NAA) for student networking opportunities and to continue growth and expansion of the NAA.
• Newcomb events on campus see longevity. “Fridays at Newcomb” continues with a renewed focus on faculty research and scholarship. In 2024, the 25th anniversary of the Arons Visiting Poetry Program was celebrated with U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, and in 2025, the Zale-Kimmerling Writer in Residence Program celebrated its 40th year with writer Karen Russell.
• In 2025, Tulane names the Donna and Richard Esteves Wing in Malkin Sacks Commons after a $3 million gift supporting women’s reproductive rights and health. This gift expands Newcomb Institute’s internship programs and community partnerships for health education.
   

Now in its 20th year, Newcomb Institute continues Josephine Louise Newcomb’s timeless vision — an education that cultivates leadership, scholarship, service, and social progress – and adds upon it with an expansion toward gender equity and research for impact, ensuring that her memorial continues “to go on year by year doing good” and “for more than just statues and monuments.”
 

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