The Women’s Advisory Board is an association of concerned women interested in The College of Wooster.

Since its founding, the Women’s Advisory Board has supported students socially and academically.  

In the nineteenth century, the Women’s Advisory Board focused its attention on building a community for the young women on campus who had left their homes to pursue a higher education. When the College of Wooster (formerly the University of Wooster) opened its doors to women students, co-education was nothing more than an experiment in the education system. Whereas other schools permitted women students but had them take sperate courses that specialized in topics considered more feminine, Wooster allowed women students to take courses side-by-side with men students from its beginning. This did not mean, however, that Wooster’s women students had access to the same commodities on campus as their male counterparts. For the women students lacked a figure who could mentor them and a dorm in which they could live.  

The faculty and townswomen alike saw that these gaps hindered women’s education at Wooster and decided to take action. At the heading of Annie B. Irish, these women formed the Wooster Women’s Educational Association, the precursor to the WAB. Their first mission was to raise funds for the construction of a women’s dormitory – Hoover Cottage. Following Annie B. Irish’s example, members of the WAB advised the women students and formed de facto Dean of Women until 1912, when Winona Alice Hughes became the first official Dean of Women. With markers such as the establishment of women’s dormitories and a Dean of Women, co-education was a success in Wooster as well as other institutions across the country. As such, women students needed the WAB’s guiding hand less and less over the years. The board, however, continued to support Wooster students by other means.  

During the twentieth century the Women’s Advisory Board began providing financial assistance for students. In 1961 the WAB established their first scholarship – the Helen Hoover Secrest Scholarship. Since then the WAB has endowed a total of 23 scholarships, totaling just over $1, 500, 000 in value. In order to support their scholarships, the WAB has held various fundraising events such as Alpenfest, the Cat’s Meow, and the Mayfest Benefit Brunch. These fundraisers and others are vital for facilitating the WAB’s efforts in providing financial aid to the college’s students every year.  

Seeing how international students similarly needed a network of their own as women students needed the century before, the Women’s Advisory Board has hosted events aimed towards welcoming and celebrating foreign students to Wooster, Ohio. The WAB has invited first-year international students to an annual picnic for more than 50 years and seniors to a graduation reception for 25 years. Indeed, the WAB paved the way for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion’s International Student Services branch, which was established in 2009. From the beginning to the end of their college career, the WAB has created a sense of community amongst international students. 

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Credit for building the Wooster Women’s Advisory Board website goes to Sofia Biegeleison ’21, Nina Lupariello ’22, Tongtong Wu ’21, and Erin Robichaud ’21 as part of the 2020 Wooster Digital History Project, with Professor Katie Holt serving as team advisor.