Celebrating 50 Years of Women at Wadham

The academic year 2024-25 will mark 50 years since Wadham (and four other Oxford colleges) admitted female students, and all alumnae and alumni are warmly invited to join us as we celebrate and reflect on this significant milestone.

For 50 years, Wadham women have been making their mark in the world, going on to do extraordinary things in all walks of life, and we hope that many of you will join us as we look back on half a century of history and forward to the next 50 years.

The College community – tutors, staff, students and alumni – will be organising a series of in-person and virtual events through the year, starting with a College-based event on 21 September 2024, and culminating with a student-alumni celebration in summer 2025.

A Wadham working group comprising Fellows, students, staff and alumni will update the programme of talks and social events over the months ahead.

We very much hope you will join us to celebrate, connect and reconnect with this wonderful community.

Please contact Eli Rubies or William Parry in the Alumni and Development office to find out more.

12:30 - 1:30pm - Oxford Meeting Minds - Five @ Fifty: looking to the future

In 1974, Brasenose, Hertford, Jesus, St Catherine’s, and Wadham became the first five traditionally male colleges to admit female students.

Taking place in the Oxford Mathematical Institute, Vice Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey will chair this panel discussion, joined by Mary Ann Sieghart (PPE, 1979) and alumnae from each of the other colleges, as they celebrate what has been achieved over the last 50 years, and consider the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

PLEASE NOTE THAT TICKETS FOR THE OXFORD MEETING MINDS EVENT WILL BE SOLD SEPARATELY.
11/07/24 - Booking is now open and we have been given a 50% discount code for Wadham alumni for this session - please get in touch for the code prior to booking.

Wadham Programme:

2pm - Wadham Registration opens in the Atrium of the Dr Lee Shau Kee Building (back quad), including self-service tea and coffee for early arrivals. Guests are invited to enter through the front of College and access the Holywell Music Room via Webb Quad (formerly JCR or Bar quad).

2 - 3pm - Class of ’74 opportunity to ‘congregate and reflect’

Alumni and friends from the initial co-education years at Wadham are invited to come together in College (room TBC) to reminisce about their experiences. This will also be an opportunity to record their experiences as part of our online documentation project, ‘Early Wadham Women’.

3 - 4pm - 'Wadham women: a positive force’, with alumnae whose careers involve advocating for the rights of women and girls in a global context.

Taking place at Wadham and hosted by Professor Shazia Chaudry, Fellow in Law. We are delighted to be joined by speakers including Abby Ajayi (Law, 1998), Verena Knaus (Honorary Fellow | History, 1995) and Lucy Lake (Honorary Fellow | Human Sciences, 1991).

4 - 4:30pm - Break for tea and cakes

4:30 - 5:30pm - Gender and Power in Higher Education

Professor Cláudia Pazos Alonso, Fellow and Tutor in Portuguese and Tutor for Women, will chair a discussion about women’s role in Higher Education: the progress over the past fifty years and the challenges which persist today.

We are delighted to be joined by panellists Professor Dame Sally Mapstone (Honorary Fellow | English, 1975), Karmjit Kaur (PPE, 2004), Professor Ursula Martin (Emeritus Fellow) and Jane Garnett (Tutor in History and the History of Art).

6 - 7:30pm - Drinks reception with music and canapés in the new William Doo Undergraduate Centre Student Lounge.

7:30pm onwards - Two course formal dinner in Hall with speech by poet Hilary Davies (French and German, 1974) followed by JCR bar open until midnight

Dress code: Lounge suits / festive

To mark the 50th anniversary of co-education at Wadham, a group of alumnae who matriculated in 1974 have proposed creating a fund for travel grants to support students who embody the pioneering spirit of Dorothy Wadham. Find out more about the 1974 Dorothy Wadham Travel Fund here.