The First Woman Graduate
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Susan Jacobson was the first woman to graduate from Bowdoin College. She arrived at Bowdoin for a year from Connecticut College through the Twelve College Exchange program, and the day Bowdoin announced its decision to admit women, she applied as a transfer student. It had long been Jacobson’s dream to attend Bowdoin. When Susan was five years old, she bet her father a lollipop that she would graduate from his alma mater despite its reputation as a men’s only college. In 1971, she won the bet. She earned her degree from Bowdoin and the lollipop, too. Here, Jacobson is pictured with her father, Payson Jacobson, Class of 1940.
Susan Jacobson with her father Payson Jacobson, circa 1971