About

The pilot program for the Ada Comstock Scholars was initially founded in 1968 during the presidency of Thomas Corwin Mendenhall.¹ During this time, faculty and administration saw an influx of women over the age of “traditional” students come to Smith to start or complete a degree. While many of these “non-traditional” students, 18 in total, expressed a wish to be able to complete their program part-time, the college initially did not allow this. Despite this, many of the women finished their degrees with high honors and were proven to be excellent students.²

By Any Other Name…

The program, originally called the “Mature Women’s Program”, changed its name in 1974 to the “Continuing Education Degree Program.”³ to better suit the purpose of the program. However, it was eventually decided that ‘continuing education’ was too vague a term that was also used throughout Smith College and the term was deemed as “ill-defined,” and had an “implication of a subordinate or peripheral extension program.”⁴

The Mature Women’s Program was not widely publicized and was only open to those who had not previously attended Smith and were within commuting distance.⁵ Despite this, 35 women who entered into the program from 1968 to 1975.⁶