<p>The average years to completion of a PhD is now 10 years. So, we are only looking at graguates through the class of 1998 on average. Figure that Class of 1940 is still alive. So, you are probably right…the majority of living Swat female PhDs are now of an age where women were starting to teach college in significant numbers – say the class of 1975 on. Of course, the numbers are still dwarfed by male professors.</p>
<p>The first female PhD in the United States, Helen McGill White was a member of Swarthmore’s first graduating class in 1873.</p>