First Female Students in Regular College Coursework

Ida Smith, Mary Smith, and Miss Luttrell registered in the Teachers Course in February 1892, a year before the board of trustees granted admission to women. Ida and Mary Smith were the daughters of Professor Frank (Francis) Smith, who was in charge of the newly established Teachers Department. Gertrude Bishop (Bradley County), Nannie Page (Tipton County), Jessie Parmalee (Knox County), and Hygean Phillips (Crockett County) also attended classes in 1892. The first female to register in the academic college of the university following granting of admission to women by the board of trustees in spring 1893 was Florence Ewing McIntyre, who was presented a certificate in Chapel stating that she was the first female student to matriculate. Of the seventeen women who enrolled in 1893, only two (Florence McCormick and Mary Peters) graduated. Twelve returned for at least one more year. The June 11, 1885, minutes of the board of trustees indicate that one of the Negro cadets, registered in the Industrial Department of the university at coeducational Knoxville College, was a female. The board ordered that the girl’s tuition be paid but “her cadetship be discontinued.”