Before They Were Students

Between 1959 and 1973, Bowdoin received grants from the National Science Foundation to conduct summer institutes that provided training in the sciences. In mathematics, four sequential summer institutes were established, enabling participants to earn a master’s degree, the first of which were awarded in 1962. Bernice Engler and Carolyn Mann each received their master’s degree that year, making them the first women to earn a degree at Bowdoin. During the course of the institutes, fifty-eight other women would follow suit.

Bernice Engler and Carolyn Mann during Summer Commencement, photograph, 1962