Jean Walton: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|American academic administrator}} |
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[[File:Jean Walton in the 1957 Metate.jpg|thumb|Walton in Pomona College's Walker Lounge {{circa|1957}}]] |
[[File:Jean Walton in the 1957 Metate.jpg|thumb|Walton in Pomona College's Walker Lounge {{circa|1957}}]] |
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'''Jean |
'''Jean Brosius Walton'''<ref name="math_genealogy">{{Cite web |title=Jean Walton |url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=7522 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714182057if_/http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=7522 |archive-date=2010-07-14 |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=The Mathematics Genealogy Project |language=en-US |df=mdy-all}}</ref> (March 6, 1914{{spnd}}July 5, 2006) was an American [[academic administrator]] and [[women's studies]] scholar. She spent the bulk of her career at [[Pomona College]] in [[Claremont, California]]. |
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Walton |
Born to a Pennsylvania [[Quakers|Quaker]] family, Walton grew up at [[George School]] and studied mathematics at [[Swarthmore College]], [[Brown University]] and the [[University of Pennsylvania]]. She joined Pomona College in 1949 as the [[Dean of Women]], and was promoted to dean of students in 1969 and vice president for student affairs in 1976, three years before her formal retirement. During her tenure, she advocated for women's education, engaged with student [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|protests against the Vietnam War]], oversaw reform of residential life policies to eliminate [[In loco parentis#Higher education|parietal rules]], and co-founded the [[Claremont Colleges]]' Intercollegiate Women's Studies Program. She earned widespread recognition for her work and was praised by colleagues for her independent and dignified personality. |
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==Early life== |
== Early life == |
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Jean |
Jean Brosius Walton was born on March 6, 1914, the fourth of five daughters, in [[Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania]].<ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians">{{Cite book|last=Murray|first=Margaret A. M.|title=Women Becoming Mathematicians: Creating a Professional Identity in Post-World War II America|date=2000|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|isbn=978-0-262-13369-2|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=54}} She grew up on the campus of [[George School]], where her father George was the principal.<ref name="Visit">{{cite news |title=Jean Walton's Parents Visit in Claremont |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185730/jean-waltons-parents-visit-in-claremont/ |access-date=November 2, 2021 |work=[[The Pomona Progress-Bulletin]] |date=January 7, 1958 |pages=6 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201222/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185730/jean-waltons-parents-visit-in-claremont/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Her mother Emily ({{Nee|Ingram}}) was a [[Housewife|homemaker]].<ref name="Marquis 1973">{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoofamerica0000unse_o9a8|title=Jean B. Walton|encyclopedia=Who's Who of American Women|date=1973|publisher=[[Marquis Who's Who]]|isbn=978-0-8379-0408-5|pages=1005|language=en|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref><ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians" />{{Rp|page=54}} For high school, she attended George School and enjoyed mathematics classes in which she was often the only female student.<ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians" />{{Rp|page=80}} She then enrolled at [[Swarthmore College]], where she majored in math.<ref name="Papers">{{cite web |last1=Kato |first1=Tanya M. |title=Collection: Jean Walton papers |url=https://claremont.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/3/resources/690 |website=ArchivesSpace Public Interface |publisher=[[The Claremont Colleges Library]] |access-date=November 2, 2021 |date=2010 |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201226/https://claremont.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/3/resources/690 |url-status=live }}</ref> She was socially active and played several sports but found dating difficult.<ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians" />{{Rp|page=105}} After graduating in 1935 with highest honors,<ref name="Papers" /> she taught high school math at [[Moorestown Friends School]] in [[New Jersey]] for three years.<ref name="Marquis online">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Jean B. Walton |encyclopedia=Marquis Biographies Online|publisher=[[Marquis Who's Who]]|oclc=5567275453}}</ref><ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians" />{{Rp|page=124}} She then earned a master's degree in mathematics from [[Brown University]] in 1940, following the completion of her thesis on the [[Riemann–Stieltjes integral]].<ref name="brown_theses">{{Cite web|title=Theses & Dissertations|url=https://library.brown.edu/theses/theses.php?task=search&id=14192|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809104149if_/http://library.brown.edu/theses/theses.php?task=search&id=14192|archive-date=2010-08-09|access-date=2022-08-22|website=[[John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library]]|at=Walton, Jean Brosius (M.A.: Education, 1940)|language=en-US|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="robertson">{{Cite news|last=Robertson|first=Vonne|date=1974-04-14|title=Pomona College Dean Cited for Dedicated Career|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185830/pomona-college-dean-cited-for-dedicated/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102035654if_/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185830/pomona-college-dean-cited-for-dedicated/|archive-date=2021-11-02|work=[[Inland Valley Daily Bulletin|The Pomona Progress-Bulletin]]|page=36|via=[[Ancestry.com]]|access-date=2021-11-02|language=en-US|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="Friends Journal">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.friendsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/emember/downloads/2008/HC12-51065.pdf#page=47|title=Jean Walton|date=March 2008|journal=[[Friends Journal]]|publisher=Friends Publishing Corporation|pages=43–44|language=en|volume=54|number=3}}</ref> |
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In 1945, she enrolled at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] to pursue a Ph.D. Her relationship with her advisor, German [[Number theory|number theorist]] [[Hans Rademacher]], was at first difficult because she did not fit his idea of a typical mathematician. However, she ultimately won his confidence after completing a difficult assignment that required her to translate French and German papers in an unfamiliar field, [[topology]]. She |
In 1945, she enrolled at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] to pursue a Ph.D. Her relationship with her advisor, German [[Number theory|number theorist]] [[Hans Rademacher]], was at first difficult because she did not fit his idea of a typical mathematician. However, she ultimately won his confidence after completing a difficult assignment that required her to translate French and German papers in an unfamiliar field, [[topology]]. She submitted her dissertation, "Theta series in the Gaussian field",<ref name="duke">{{Cite journal|last=Walton|first=Jean B.|date=1949-09-01|title=Theta series in the Gaussian field|url=https://projecteuclid.org/journalArticle/Download?urlId=10.1215%2FS0012-7094-49-01645-2|url-access=subscription|journal=[[Duke Mathematical Journal]]|volume=16|issue=3|doi=10.1215/S0012-7094-49-01645-2|zbl=0034.05502|access-date=2022-08-23|language=en-US|df=mdy-all}}</ref> on March 12, 1948,<ref name="ams48">{{Cite journal|last=Kline|first=J.R.|year=1948|title=The April Meeting in New York|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1948-54-07/S0002-9904-1948-09030-9/S0002-9904-1948-09030-9.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823101237if_/https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1948-54-07/S0002-9904-1948-09030-9/S0002-9904-1948-09030-9.pdf|archive-date=2022-08-23|archive-format=PDF|format=PDF|journal=[[Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society]]|language=en|volume=54|issue=7|pages=623, 633|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and after a successful defense received her doctorate in mathematics that June.<ref name="ams49">{{Cite journal|last=Kline|first=J.R.|date=May 1949|editor-last=Jacobson|editor-first=Nathan|editor2-last=Langer|editor2-first=Rudolph Ernest|editor3-last=Montgomery|editor3-first=Deane|editor4-last=Stouffer|editor4-first=Ellis B.|title=Notes|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1949-55-05/S0002-9904-1949-09227-3/S0002-9904-1949-09227-3.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823103228if_/https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1949-55-05/S0002-9904-1949-09227-3/S0002-9904-1949-09227-3.pdf|archive-date=2022-08-23|archive-format=PDF|format=PDF|journal=[[Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society]]|language=en-US|volume=55|issue=5|page=542|issn=0273-0979|eissn=1088-9485|access-date=2022-08-23|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It was published by the ''[[Duke Mathematical Journal]]'' in September 1949. She would later describe the experience as "isolating but confidence-boosting."<ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians" />{{Rp|pages=124–126}} |
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==Career== |
== Career == |
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|quote = College education stimulates the individual student, man or woman, to continued growth. The woman should be encouraged to explore, identify, and develop fully her intellectual interests and abilities, and to seek ways which fit the circumstances of her life to use these abilities fully. |
|quote = College education stimulates the individual student, man or woman, to continued growth. The woman should be encouraged to explore, identify, and develop fully her intellectual interests and abilities, and to seek ways which fit the circumstances of her life to use these abilities fully. |
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|author = Jean Walton |
|author = Jean Walton |
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|source = 1963<ref name="Harmonizing">{{cite news |title=Harmonizing Goals Is Task of Those Educating Women |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88193374/harmonizing-goals-is-task-of-those-educa/ |access-date=2 November 2021 |work=[[The Dispatch / The Rock Island Argus|The Dispatch]] |date=20 April 1963 |pages=7 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201228/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88193374/harmonizing-goals-is-task-of-those/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
|source = 1963<ref name="Harmonizing">{{cite news |title=Harmonizing Goals Is Task of Those Educating Women |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88193374/harmonizing-goals-is-task-of-those-educa/ |access-date=2 November 2021 |work=[[The Dispatch / The Rock Island Argus|The Dispatch]] |date=20 April 1963 |pages=7 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201228/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88193374/harmonizing-goals-is-task-of-those/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Walton began her career teaching math as an instructor at Swarthmore,<ref name="Papers" /> serving as an assistant to the dean and then the acting [[dean of women]].<ref name="Lyon">{{Cite book|last=Lyon|first=E. Wilson|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpomonac0000lyon|title=The History of Pomona College, 1887–1969|date=1977|publisher=The Castle Press|location=Anaheim, California|language=en|oclc=4114776|author-link=E. Wilson Lyon|url-access=registration|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>{{Rp|417}} She also taught at the University of Pennsylvania.<ref name="Papers" /> |
Walton began her career teaching math as an instructor at Swarthmore in 1940,<ref name="Papers" /><ref name="Marquis online" /> serving as an assistant to the dean and then the acting [[dean of women]] in 1945.<ref name="Marquis online" /><ref name="Lyon">{{Cite book|last=Lyon|first=E. Wilson|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpomonac0000lyon|title=The History of Pomona College, 1887–1969|date=1977|publisher=The Castle Press|location=Anaheim, California|language=en|oclc=4114776|author-link=E. Wilson Lyon|url-access=registration|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>{{Rp|417}} She also taught math at the University of Pennsylvania beginning in 1947.<ref name="Papers" /><ref name="Marquis online" /> |
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Walton was hired by [[Pomona College]] in 1949 as the dean of women<ref name="LAT trouble">{{cite news |last1=Callan |first1=Mary Ann |title=Deans More Than 'Trouble Shooters' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185175/deans-more-than-trouble-shooters/ |access-date= |
Walton was hired by [[Pomona College]], the founding member of the [[Claremont Colleges]] consortium,<ref name="Lyon" />{{Rp||page=239}} in 1949 as the dean of women<ref name="LAT trouble">{{cite news |last1=Callan |first1=Mary Ann |title=Deans More Than 'Trouble Shooters' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185175/deans-more-than-trouble-shooters/ |access-date=November 2, 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=November 6, 1949 |page=93 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201325/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185175/deans-more-than-trouble-shooters/ |url-status=live }}</ref> on the recommendation of Swarthmore president [[John W. Mason]].<ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians" />{{Rp||pages=198}} In her early years, she sought to expand her role beyond its disciplinary aspects and to help women navigate the [[marriage vs. career conflict]] by providing them with a broad [[liberal arts education]].<ref name="LAT trouble" /> Over time, she grew concerned by the sexism she witnessed and the low expectations for female students.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> |
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In addition to her administrative duties, Walton taught [[calculus]].<ref name="LAT trouble" /> However, she became increasingly disconnected from mathematics and quit teaching after ten years.<ref name="Sciences succeeding">{{cite book |last=Murray|first=Margaret A. M. |editor1-last=Bart |editor1-first=Jody |title=Women Succeeding in the Sciences: Theories and Practices Across Disciplines |date=2000 |publisher=[[Purdue University Press]] |location=West Lafayette, Indiana |isbn=978-1-55753-121-6 |chapter=Women Becoming Mathematicians | |
In addition to her administrative duties, Walton taught [[calculus]].<ref name="LAT trouble" /> However, she became increasingly disconnected from mathematics, which she felt was "too remote from life", and quit teaching after ten years.<ref name="Sciences succeeding">{{cite book |last=Murray|first=Margaret A. M. |editor1-last=Bart |editor1-first=Jody |title=Women Succeeding in the Sciences: Theories and Practices Across Disciplines |date=2000 |publisher=[[Purdue University Press]] |location=West Lafayette, Indiana |isbn=978-1-55753-121-6 |chapter=Women Becoming Mathematicians |pages=88–89}}</ref><ref name="Women Becoming Mathematicians" />{{Rp|pages=42,126,198}} Together with classics professor [[Harry J. Carroll]], Walton helped found an early iteration of Pomona's study abroad program.<ref name="Papers" /> During the 1955–1956 academic year, she taught at [[Japan Women's University]] in [[Tokyo]] as a [[Fulbright Lecturer]] and filled a student services role similar to her own at Pomona.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pomona College Dean Gets Fulbright Grant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185130/pomona-college-dean-gets-fulbright-grant/ |access-date=November 2, 2021 |work=[[The Pomona Progress-Bulletin]] |date=April 21, 1955 |page=11 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201228/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88185130/pomona-college-dean-gets-fulbright-grant/ |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 1962–1963 academic year, she did a consultancy with the [[Danforth Foundation]].<ref name="Papers" /> |
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⚫ | Walton was the president of the California Association of Women<!-- typo in source; it's "women" --> Administrators and Counselors from 1957 to 1959,<ref name="DB obit" /> and was chair of the college section of the [[National Association of Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors]] from 1963 to 1965.<ref name="DB obit" /><ref name="Marquis 1973" /> |
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⚫ | In the 1960s, Walton was a key figure in Pomona's handling of the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|countercultural revolution]] and student [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|protests against the Vietnam War]]. During the 1967–1968 academic year, she chaired a student-faculty commission that worked on the college's [[demonstration policy]].<ref name="Lyon" />{{rp|559–560}} Walton also played an instrumental role in the liberalization of Pomona's residential life policies and the elimination of [[In loco parentis#Higher education|parietal rules]] that had restricted student freedom and segregated housing by gender. This put her on the forward edge of a nationwide trend toward the elimination of such rules; a colleague later recalled that she "changed with the times to an amazing degree".<ref name="Edwards activism">{{Cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=G. Thomas|url=http://www.campusactivism.org/server-new/uploads/student_activism_historypomona_willamette_whitman.pdf|title=Student Activism at Pomona, Willamette, and Whitman, |
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⚫ | In 1969, Walton became |
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⚫ | In the 1960s, Walton was a key figure in Pomona's handling of the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|countercultural revolution]] and student [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|protests against the Vietnam War]]. During the 1967–1968 academic year, she chaired a student-faculty commission that worked on the college's [[demonstration policy]].<ref name="Lyon" />{{rp|559–560}} Walton also played an instrumental role in the liberalization of Pomona's residential life policies and the elimination of [[In loco parentis#Higher education|parietal rules]] that had restricted student freedom and segregated housing by gender. This put her on the forward edge of a nationwide trend toward the elimination of such rules; a colleague later recalled that she "changed with the times to an amazing degree".<ref name="Edwards activism">{{Cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=G. Thomas|url=http://www.campusactivism.org/server-new/uploads/student_activism_historypomona_willamette_whitman.pdf|title=Student Activism at Pomona, Willamette, and Whitman, 1965–1971|date=2008|publisher=[[Whitman College and Northwest Archives]]|location=Walla Walla, Washington|oclc=228308410|author-link=G. Thomas Edwards|access-date=November 2, 2021|archive-date=October 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019075449/http://www.campusactivism.org/server-new/uploads/student_activism_historypomona_willamette_whitman.pdf|url-status=live|page=17}}</ref><ref name="Coed LAT">{{cite news |last1=Frank |first1=Ann |title=Coed College Housing Winning Wide Acclaim |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88176945/coed-college-housing-winning-wide-acclai/ |access-date=November 1, 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 12, 1968 |pages=239,[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88177170/coed-college-housing-winning-wide 240] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> |
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⚫ | In 1969, Walton became dean of students.<ref name="Papers" /> During the fall 1971 semester, she travelled around the U.S. on sabbatical studying the [[Women's liberation movement in North America#United States|American women's movement]].<ref name="Founding Mothers" /><!-- Newspaper appears to get date wrong --><ref name="robertson" /> The experience was transformative and inspired her to pursue feminist initiatives at Pomona.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> When she returned to campus for the spring semester, she chaired the college's Commission on the Education of Women, which recommended increasing the number of women on Pomona's faculty and changing the college's curriculum to better cater to female students.<ref name="Papers" /><ref name="robertson" /> Walton was involved in ending the [[Traditions of Pomona College#Weigh-in|Pomona weigh-in]], an annual practice in which [[Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens football|the college's football team]] would forcibly weigh and measure the proportions of incoming first-year women during orientation.<ref name="Weigh-in end PCM" /> She assisted [[Traditions of Pomona College#Sponsor groups|sponsors]] who objected to the tradition in 1972, and threatened to report the team for theft when she spotted them attempting to use college-owned scales the next year.<ref name="Weigh-in end PCM">{{cite news|last1=Hutchinson|first1=Helen|title=End of the Weigh-In|work=Pomona College Magazine|publisher=Pomona College|volume=41|issue=2|date=Winter 2005|url=http://www.pomona.edu:80/Magazine/pcmwin05/ALvoices.shtml|url-status=dead|access-date=August 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503053741/http://www.pomona.edu/Magazine/pcmwin05/ALvoices.shtml|archive-date=May 3, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Courier obit">{{cite news|last1=Torribio-Bond|first1=Sarah|date=July 12, 2006|title=Jean Walton leaves a legacy|work=[[Claremont Courier]]|format=DOC|url=http://www.claremont-courier.com/archives/walton%20obit.doc|access-date=April 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031112433/http://www.claremont-courier.com/archives/walton%20obit.doc|archive-date=October 31, 2007|archive-format=DOC}}</ref> |
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⚫ | In 1976, Walton was promoted to |
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⚫ | In 1976, Walton was promoted to vice president for student affairs.<ref name="Papers" /> She co-founded the Claremont Colleges' Intercollegiate Women's Studies Program and was its first coordinator from 1978 to 1983.<ref name="Founding Mothers">{{cite book |last1=Walton |first1=Jean |editor-last=Howe |editor-first=Florence |editor-link=Florence Howe |chapter=The Evolution of a Consortial Women's Studies Program |title=The Politics of Women's Studies: Testimony from Thirty Founding Mothers |date=2000 |publisher=[[Feminist Press]] |location=New York |isbn=978-1-55861-241-9 |pages=39–54 |edition=1st}}</ref><ref name="DB obit" /> Historian [[Gerda Lerner]], invited for a two-week residency in February 1978, encouraged her to make the program a joint venture between the colleges.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> [[Scripps College]] president [[John H. Chandler (educator)|John H. Chandler]] volunteered the college to take the lead role in the initiative, resolving funding disputes.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> |
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== Personal life == |
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Walton was a devout [[Quaker]].<ref name="Courier obit" /><ref name="Friends Journal" /> She lived in [[Claremont, California|Claremont]] at 562 Baughman Ave.<ref name="Marquis 1973" /> Her hobbies included gardening, mountain hiking, traveling,<ref name="robertson" /> birding,<ref name="Friends Journal" /> and opera.<ref name="Courier obit" /> A baseball fan, she supported the [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodgers]].<ref name="Courier obit" /> |
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Walton formally retired in 1979, although she remained active in the women's studies programs at the Claremont Colleges.<ref name="DB obit" /> In her elderly years, she moved to Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Claremont<ref name="Courier obit" /> and regularly attended lectures and performances at the Claremont Colleges.<ref name="Courier obit" /> She served on the city's Committee on Aging and in other civic roles.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> She died on July 5, 2006 at age 92.<ref name="DB obit">{{cite news |title=Jean B. Walton Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/ivdailybulletin/name/jean-walton-obituary?pid=18376659 |access-date=2 November 2021 |work=[[Inland Valley Daily Bulletin]] |date=Jul 8, 2006 |via=[[Legacy.com]] |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201228/https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/ivdailybulletin/name/jean-walton-obituary?pid=18376659 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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=== Later years === |
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==Personal life== |
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Walton |
Walton formally retired in 1979, although she remained active in the women's studies programs at the Claremont Colleges.<ref name="DB obit" /> In her elderly years, she moved to Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Claremont<ref name="Courier obit" /> and regularly attended lectures and performances at the Claremont Colleges.<ref name="Courier obit" /> She served on the city's Committee on Aging and in other civic roles.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> She died on July 5, 2006, at age 92.<ref name="DB obit">{{cite news |title=Jean B. Walton Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/ivdailybulletin/name/jean-walton-obituary?pid=18376659 |access-date=November 2, 2021 |work=[[Inland Valley Daily Bulletin]] |date=July 8, 2006 |via=[[Legacy.com]] |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102201228/https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/ivdailybulletin/name/jean-walton-obituary?pid=18376659 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Recognition and legacy== |
== Recognition and legacy == |
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[[File:Walton_Commons,_Pomona_College.jpg|thumb|Walton Commons]] |
[[File:Walton_Commons,_Pomona_College.jpg|thumb|Walton Commons]] |
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Walton was awarded the [[National Association of Student Personnel Administrators]]' top honor, the Scott Goodnight Award, in 1974.<ref name=" |
Walton was awarded the [[National Association of Student Personnel Administrators]]' top honor, the Scott Goodnight Award, in 1974.<ref name="robertson" /> The next year, she won Pomona's Wig Distinguished Professor Award, the college's highest faculty honor, in recognition of her teaching and her contributions to an interdisciplinary course on changing sex roles.<ref name="Papers" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Wig Awards|date=<!-- No date -->|url=https://www.pomona.edu/faculty/wig-awards|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420161329/https://www.pomona.edu/faculty/wig-awards|archive-date=April 20, 2021|access-date=August 27, 2021|publisher=Pomona College|language=en}}</ref> |
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When she retired, students established the Jean B. Walton Scholarship Fund in her honor.<ref name="DB obit" /> A residential building at Pomona, Walton Commons, was named after her in 1981,<ref name="DB obit" /> and in 1994 the college awarded her an honorary doctor of science degree.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> |
When she retired, her former students established the Jean B. Walton Scholarship Fund in her honor.<ref name="DB obit" /> A residential building at Pomona, Walton Commons, was named after her in 1981,<ref name="DB obit" /> and in 1994 the college awarded her an honorary doctor of science degree.<ref name="Founding Mothers" /> |
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In remarks after her death, Pomona president [[David Alexander (college president)|David Alexander]] described her as "fiercely independent, sturdy and courageous" and credited her as "among the most important contributors" to the college's success.<ref name="DB obit" /> An obituary in the ''[[Claremont Courier]]'' noted that she "evokes the word 'dignity' from almost all who knew her."<ref name="Courier obit" /> |
In remarks after her death, Pomona president [[David Alexander (college president)|David Alexander]] described her as "fiercely independent, sturdy and courageous" and credited her as "among the most important contributors" to the college's success.<ref name="DB obit" /> An obituary in the ''[[Claremont Courier]]'' noted that she "evokes the word 'dignity' from almost all who knew her."<ref name="Courier obit" /> |
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==References== |
== References == |
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==External links== |
== External links == |
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*[https://claremont.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/3/resources/690 Jean Walton papers] at The Claremont Colleges Library |
* [https://claremont.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/3/resources/690 Jean Walton papers] at The Claremont Colleges Library |
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Latest revision as of 03:06, 10 April 2024
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Jean_Walton_in_the_1957_Metate.jpg/220px-Jean_Walton_in_the_1957_Metate.jpg)
Jean Brosius Walton[1] (March 6, 1914 – July 5, 2006) was an American academic administrator and women's studies scholar. She spent the bulk of her career at Pomona College in Claremont, California.
Born to a Pennsylvania Quaker family, Walton grew up at George School and studied mathematics at Swarthmore College, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania. She joined Pomona College in 1949 as the Dean of Women, and was promoted to dean of students in 1969 and vice president for student affairs in 1976, three years before her formal retirement. During her tenure, she advocated for women's education, engaged with student protests against the Vietnam War, oversaw reform of residential life policies to eliminate parietal rules, and co-founded the Claremont Colleges' Intercollegiate Women's Studies Program. She earned widespread recognition for her work and was praised by colleagues for her independent and dignified personality.
Early life
[edit]Jean Brosius Walton was born on March 6, 1914, the fourth of five daughters, in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.[2]: 54 She grew up on the campus of George School, where her father George was the principal.[3] Her mother Emily (née Ingram) was a homemaker.[4][2]: 54 For high school, she attended George School and enjoyed mathematics classes in which she was often the only female student.[2]: 80 She then enrolled at Swarthmore College, where she majored in math.[5] She was socially active and played several sports but found dating difficult.[2]: 105 After graduating in 1935 with highest honors,[5] she taught high school math at Moorestown Friends School in New Jersey for three years.[6][2]: 124 She then earned a master's degree in mathematics from Brown University in 1940, following the completion of her thesis on the Riemann–Stieltjes integral.[7][8][9]
In 1945, she enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a Ph.D. Her relationship with her advisor, German number theorist Hans Rademacher, was at first difficult because she did not fit his idea of a typical mathematician. However, she ultimately won his confidence after completing a difficult assignment that required her to translate French and German papers in an unfamiliar field, topology. She submitted her dissertation, "Theta series in the Gaussian field",[10] on March 12, 1948,[11] and after a successful defense received her doctorate in mathematics that June.[12] It was published by the Duke Mathematical Journal in September 1949. She would later describe the experience as "isolating but confidence-boosting."[2]: 124–126
Career
[edit]College education stimulates the individual student, man or woman, to continued growth. The woman should be encouraged to explore, identify, and develop fully her intellectual interests and abilities, and to seek ways which fit the circumstances of her life to use these abilities fully.
Jean Walton, 1963[13]
Walton began her career teaching math as an instructor at Swarthmore in 1940,[5][6] serving as an assistant to the dean and then the acting dean of women in 1945.[6][14]: 417 She also taught math at the University of Pennsylvania beginning in 1947.[5][6]
Walton was hired by Pomona College, the founding member of the Claremont Colleges consortium,[14]: 239 in 1949 as the dean of women[15] on the recommendation of Swarthmore president John W. Mason.[2]: 198 In her early years, she sought to expand her role beyond its disciplinary aspects and to help women navigate the marriage vs. career conflict by providing them with a broad liberal arts education.[15] Over time, she grew concerned by the sexism she witnessed and the low expectations for female students.[16]
In addition to her administrative duties, Walton taught calculus.[15] However, she became increasingly disconnected from mathematics, which she felt was "too remote from life", and quit teaching after ten years.[17][2]: 42, 126, 198 Together with classics professor Harry J. Carroll, Walton helped found an early iteration of Pomona's study abroad program.[5] During the 1955–1956 academic year, she taught at Japan Women's University in Tokyo as a Fulbright Lecturer and filled a student services role similar to her own at Pomona.[18] During the 1962–1963 academic year, she did a consultancy with the Danforth Foundation.[5]
Walton was the president of the California Association of Women Administrators and Counselors from 1957 to 1959,[19] and was chair of the college section of the National Association of Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors from 1963 to 1965.[19][4]
![Men march up the Frary Dining Hall steps carrying handwritten protest signs](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Men_protest_opening_of_Frary_Dining_Hall_to_women.jpg/220px-Men_protest_opening_of_Frary_Dining_Hall_to_women.jpg)
In the 1960s, Walton was a key figure in Pomona's handling of the countercultural revolution and student protests against the Vietnam War. During the 1967–1968 academic year, she chaired a student-faculty commission that worked on the college's demonstration policy.[14]: 559–560 Walton also played an instrumental role in the liberalization of Pomona's residential life policies and the elimination of parietal rules that had restricted student freedom and segregated housing by gender. This put her on the forward edge of a nationwide trend toward the elimination of such rules; a colleague later recalled that she "changed with the times to an amazing degree".[20][21]
In 1969, Walton became dean of students.[5] During the fall 1971 semester, she travelled around the U.S. on sabbatical studying the American women's movement.[16][8] The experience was transformative and inspired her to pursue feminist initiatives at Pomona.[16] When she returned to campus for the spring semester, she chaired the college's Commission on the Education of Women, which recommended increasing the number of women on Pomona's faculty and changing the college's curriculum to better cater to female students.[5][8] Walton was involved in ending the Pomona weigh-in, an annual practice in which the college's football team would forcibly weigh and measure the proportions of incoming first-year women during orientation.[22] She assisted sponsors who objected to the tradition in 1972, and threatened to report the team for theft when she spotted them attempting to use college-owned scales the next year.[22][23]
In 1976, Walton was promoted to vice president for student affairs.[5] She co-founded the Claremont Colleges' Intercollegiate Women's Studies Program and was its first coordinator from 1978 to 1983.[16][19] Historian Gerda Lerner, invited for a two-week residency in February 1978, encouraged her to make the program a joint venture between the colleges.[16] Scripps College president John H. Chandler volunteered the college to take the lead role in the initiative, resolving funding disputes.[16]
Personal life
[edit]Walton was a devout Quaker.[23][9] She lived in Claremont at 562 Baughman Ave.[4] Her hobbies included gardening, mountain hiking, traveling,[8] birding,[9] and opera.[23] A baseball fan, she supported the Dodgers.[23]
Later years
[edit]Walton formally retired in 1979, although she remained active in the women's studies programs at the Claremont Colleges.[19] In her elderly years, she moved to Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Claremont[23] and regularly attended lectures and performances at the Claremont Colleges.[23] She served on the city's Committee on Aging and in other civic roles.[16] She died on July 5, 2006, at age 92.[19]
Recognition and legacy
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Walton_Commons%2C_Pomona_College.jpg/220px-Walton_Commons%2C_Pomona_College.jpg)
Walton was awarded the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators' top honor, the Scott Goodnight Award, in 1974.[8] The next year, she won Pomona's Wig Distinguished Professor Award, the college's highest faculty honor, in recognition of her teaching and her contributions to an interdisciplinary course on changing sex roles.[5][24]
When she retired, her former students established the Jean B. Walton Scholarship Fund in her honor.[19] A residential building at Pomona, Walton Commons, was named after her in 1981,[19] and in 1994 the college awarded her an honorary doctor of science degree.[16]
In remarks after her death, Pomona president David Alexander described her as "fiercely independent, sturdy and courageous" and credited her as "among the most important contributors" to the college's success.[19] An obituary in the Claremont Courier noted that she "evokes the word 'dignity' from almost all who knew her."[23]
References
[edit]- ^ "Jean Walton". The Mathematics Genealogy Project. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Murray, Margaret A. M. (2000). Women Becoming Mathematicians: Creating a Professional Identity in Post-World War II America. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-13369-2.
- ^ "Jean Walton's Parents Visit in Claremont". The Pomona Progress-Bulletin. January 7, 1958. p. 6. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Jean B. Walton". Who's Who of American Women. Marquis Who's Who. 1973. p. 1005. ISBN 978-0-8379-0408-5 – via Archive.org.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kato, Tanya M. (2010). "Collection: Jean Walton papers". ArchivesSpace Public Interface. The Claremont Colleges Library. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Jean B. Walton". Marquis Biographies Online. Marquis Who's Who. OCLC 5567275453.
- ^ "Theses & Dissertations". John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. Walton, Jean Brosius (M.A.: Education, 1940). Archived from the original on August 9, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Robertson, Vonne (April 14, 1974). "Pomona College Dean Cited for Dedicated Career". The Pomona Progress-Bulletin. p. 36. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Ancestry.com.
- ^ a b c "Jean Walton" (PDF). Friends Journal. 54 (3). Friends Publishing Corporation: 43–44. March 2008.
- ^ Walton, Jean B. (September 1, 1949). "Theta series in the Gaussian field". Duke Mathematical Journal. 16 (3). doi:10.1215/S0012-7094-49-01645-2. Zbl 0034.05502. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ Kline, J.R. (1948). "The April Meeting in New York" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 54 (7): 623, 633. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 23, 2022.
- ^ Kline, J.R. (May 1949). Jacobson, Nathan; Langer, Rudolph Ernest; Montgomery, Deane; Stouffer, Ellis B. (eds.). "Notes" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 55 (5): 542. eISSN 1088-9485. ISSN 0273-0979. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ "Harmonizing Goals Is Task of Those Educating Women". The Dispatch. April 20, 1963. p. 7. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Lyon, E. Wilson (1977). The History of Pomona College, 1887–1969. Anaheim, California: The Castle Press. OCLC 4114776 – via Archive.org.
- ^ a b c Callan, Mary Ann (November 6, 1949). "Deans More Than 'Trouble Shooters'". Los Angeles Times. p. 93. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Walton, Jean (2000). "The Evolution of a Consortial Women's Studies Program". In Howe, Florence (ed.). The Politics of Women's Studies: Testimony from Thirty Founding Mothers (1st ed.). New York: Feminist Press. pp. 39–54. ISBN 978-1-55861-241-9.
- ^ Murray, Margaret A. M. (2000). "Women Becoming Mathematicians". In Bart, Jody (ed.). Women Succeeding in the Sciences: Theories and Practices Across Disciplines. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-1-55753-121-6.
- ^ "Pomona College Dean Gets Fulbright Grant". The Pomona Progress-Bulletin. April 21, 1955. p. 11. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Jean B. Walton Obituary". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. July 8, 2006. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Legacy.com.
- ^ Edwards, G. Thomas (2008). Student Activism at Pomona, Willamette, and Whitman, 1965–1971 (PDF). Walla Walla, Washington: Whitman College and Northwest Archives. p. 17. OCLC 228308410. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
- ^ Frank, Ann (May 12, 1968). "Coed College Housing Winning Wide Acclaim". Los Angeles Times. pp. 239, 240. Retrieved November 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Hutchinson, Helen (Winter 2005). "End of the Weigh-In". Pomona College Magazine. Vol. 41, no. 2. Pomona College. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g Torribio-Bond, Sarah (July 12, 2006). "Jean Walton leaves a legacy" (DOC). Claremont Courier. Archived from the original (DOC) on October 31, 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
- ^ "Wig Awards". Pomona College. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
External links
[edit]- Jean Walton papers at The Claremont Colleges Library
- 1914 births
- 2006 deaths
- Pomona College faculty
- Deans of women
- People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- George School alumni
- Swarthmore College alumni
- Brown University alumni
- University of Pennsylvania alumni
- 20th-century American mathematicians
- American academics of women's studies
- Quakers from Pennsylvania
- 20th-century American women educators
- 20th-century American educators
- 20th-century American academics