The Dean of Women at Wisconsin

Louise Troxell, Dean of Women at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1931 to 1956. ©The University of Wisconsin-Madison archives.

I have written about the Dean of Women at Wisconsin. She had been an inspiration ever since I had been a grade school child. My best friend in Sioux City, Mary Alford’s, mother encouraged me to contact the Dean of Women when I first mentioned my desire to attend the University of Wisconsin when I graduated from high school. Mary Alford and I continued to be good friends for many years.

When I was a senior at Wisconsin, I found myself majoring in social work. I found it to be a fascinating career and when my professor, my advisor, recommended that I seek a graduate degree, I was again referred to Dean Troxell.

During my senior year, I gathered my high school records, my college records, my personal biography, my goals and aspirations, and my resume to apply for our scholarship to Columbia University in New York City. I especially recall that Dean Troxell had said to me, “when you have arranged all of your high school and college records, bring them to me and I will have them typed up for you.”

What a wonderful offer! I was so pleased. I did not own a typewriter. I did everything in longhand.

When I dropped off my materials to be given to Dean Troxell’s secretary, I breathed a sigh of relief and as well as a big prayer for a chance to be accepted. I particularly remember the secretary saying, “don't build your hopes up. You will never get that scholarship.”
I didn't lose faith and I didn't give up hope. But when I did receive the news that I was accepted at Columbia, I gave a little smirk to the Dean's secretary. Later that fall, I had a note from Dean Troxell. She, too, had attended Columbia. She, too, had lived in a graduate women’s dorm on campus at the university in Upper Manhattan. She, too, had enjoyed the sights and sounds of campus life. She wished me well.