Hartford, Conn., October 26, 2006—Trinity College will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the hiring of its first female faculty member with an event on Tuesday, November 7 to honor Professor of Mathematics Emerita Marjorie V. Butcher, with a program of speakers, including current and former members of the faculty, the dean of faculty, the president of the College, as well as three former students of Butcher’s. Butcher will also share her own reflections, entitled “One Woman’s Privilege.”  The event will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will be followed by a public reception in the Washington Room, in Mather Hall, from 5:45- 7:00 p.m. 

That evening, many of Butcher’s former colleagues and students will travel back to campus to reminisce, renew old friendships, and reflect on coeducation at Trinity. In addition to looking back on Butcher’s inspiring career, the following discussions are slated:

Charles A. Dana Professor of Mathematics Emeritus Robert C. Stewart: “The Boardman Hall Years, 1956-63”

Wilson H. Taylor ’64, former CEO of CIGNA: “Liberal Arts in Life”

Karen Fink Kupferberg ’73, former vice president and corporate controller of EMC: “Coeducation; a Woman in the Corporate World after Trinity”

Caroleen Midura Rosen ’79, second vice president and actuary at New England Mutual Life Insurance: “Freshman Seminar to Woman Actuary and Insurance Officer”

Professor of Mathematics David Mauro: “Recollections of a Colleague, Active and Retired”

Marjorie Van Eenam Butcher became the first female member of Trinity’s faculty with the approval of the Board of Trustees when she was hired in 1956 by chairman of the Department of Mathematics, Harold L. Dorwart, as a part-time instructor in mathematics.  She became Trinity’s first female full professor in 1979. In 1989, Butcher retired after a 33-year career teaching mathematics.

Butcher graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, in 1947 and her M.A. in 1949 in (actuarial) mathematics. She authored several papers, book reviews, and discussions in actuarial journals and, with Cecil J. Nesbitt of the University of Michigan, the book Mathematics of Compound Interest (1971).