THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Elga Ruth Wasserman

June 30, 1924 – November 11, 2014 

“As long as women absorb the extreme overload that’s resulted from dual career families, there will never be a truly level playing field.”

Scientist, attorney, author, political activist and outspoken advocate for women’s rights. Guided transformation of Yale College from an all-male undergraduate college into a co-educational institution. Research assistant, part-time appointments, Southern Connecticut State University and Quinnipiac College, 1950-1962. Assistant dean, Yale Graduate School, physical and biological sciences, 1962-1968. Special Assistant to the President on the Education of Women, Yale College, 1968-1972. Chairman of the Committee on Co-education. Adviser to the Women’s Action Program of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Member of the advisory committee on the status and education of women of the Association of American Colleges. Clerked for United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1977. Practiced family law, New Haven, Connecticut, 20 years until retiring in 1995. Author, The Door in the Dream, published, National Academy of Sciences, 2000, recognized as a valuable contribution to the record of women in science. Recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including an American Association of University Women Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Grant. Yale Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies initiated Elga Wasserman Award, 1995; and Yale Women Faculty Forum initiated the Elga R. Wasserman Courage, Clarity, and Leadership Award, 2021. B.S. Smith College, 1945. Master’s degree, Harvard, 1947. Ph.D. organic chemistry, Radcliffe College, 1949. Juris Doctor, Yale Law School, 1976