In celebration of 50 years of co-education on the Hilltop, we share some of the most memorable stories and accomplishments of the women who have helped make Saint Anselm what it is today.
Congratulations, women of the Hilltop. You just became vintage. And that’s a very good thing. This 2024-2025 academic year marks the 50th year of co-education at Saint Anselm, and we couldn’t be prouder to mark the occasion in Portraits. When it comes to age, this golden anniversary is typically ushered in with good-hearted moans and groans. For this milestone, however, let the cheering and celebration ring loud. It means Saint Anselm College was walking alongside the national change during the early 1970s to increase access to higher education for women.
It is an important distinction to make, however, that women were impacting the college long before the 1974-1975 academic year. The Benedictine Sisters, Sisters of Joan of Arc, nursing students, and faculty and staff were helping to shape the college as far back as the late 1800s. This fact was beautifully chronicled in Climbing the Hill by Keith Chevalier, college archivist and head of Special Collections, in the Spring 2015 issue of Portraits, which marked the 40th anniversary of women’s co-education. For those interested in revisiting this story, you can read it at www.anselm.edu/climbing-the-hill
In these next several pages, we build off of this story with a look at 50 stories from the last 50 years. We begin with a nod to the women who helped shape us, and next share the many unique ways women have impacted and continue to lead the college toward an impressive and exciting future. We hope you sit back, settle in, and enjoy this journey down memory lane—and we also hope you become as inspired as we are to see what the next 50 years will bring.
This issue could not have been possible without the help from many Anselmians. Special thanks to Shauna Admirand; Fr. Benet Phillips, O.S.B. ’87; Anna Brennan-Curry; Mariel Capulli; Kim Casey; Keith P. Chevalier; Jean Couture; Jeannette M. Davila ’83, H.D. ’99; Joseph Emmons ’04; James F. Flanagan; Rob Foreman; Christine Gallardo; Benjamin Horton, Ph.D. ’12; Carolyn King-Robitaille; Jason Kolnos; Ritchie Kolnos; Laura (Rossi) Lemire ’06; Riley McIntrye ’24; Emily St. Jean; Diane M. Uzarski, D.N.P., M.P.H., R.N. and the Women’s 50th Celebration Committee.