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Women on the faculty and administration

By Jane Lagoudis Pinchin H’18, Jill Harsin, and Tracey E. Hucks ’87, MA’90

A trio of Colgate women leaders discuss the impact of women who entered the University as students and faculty from the 1970s on, and how they shaped Colgate.

English faculty members in 1970, only one of whom is female
English faculty members in 1970, only one of whom is female

Jane Lagoudis (now Pinchin), center, with Department of English colleagues, 1970

On the occasion of presenting her with an honorary doctor of letters degree in 2018, Colgate invited Jane Lagoudis Pinchin to present an inaugural Commencement Seminar during graduation weekend, on May 19, 2018.

The Thomas A. Bartlett Chair and Professor of English emerita, Pinchin has served in most of the significant positions in the academic administration, including provost and dean of the faculty and vice president for academic advancement, as well as interim university president in 2001–2002.

Rather than giving a solo talk, she invited two other Colgate women leaders to join her: Jill Harsin, Thomas A. Bartlett Chair and professor of history, who has served as interim president (2015–16) and as dean of the faculty, and Tracey Hucks ’87, MA’90, current provost and dean of the faculty and James A. Storing Professor of religion and Africana and Latin American studies. 

“A lot of what women do is in conversation with other women,” said Pinchin, “So, when I asked them, I felt I was doing something in a women’s tradition.”

Their remarks — which they repeated on September 21, 2018, as part of Colgate’s Bicentennial celebration kickoff week — dovetailed thematically and personally, as well as temporally. Here, we share personal essays adapted from their talk, “Enter Women at Colgate,” which they delivered on May 19, 2018.