Women's Senior Award Winners, 1959 - present

Thanks to the Office of Student Life for this information.

Among the oldest traditions at the University of Pennsylvania are the senior class leadership awards. The oldest of them, the Spoon, is documented as early as 1865, when Penn still occupied a campus on 9th street, in Center City, Phladelphia. Today, no fewer than 8 of these distinguished awards are presented on Hey Day, the last day of classes in each academic year. Elected by their fellow students in recognition of outstanding service to the University community, the receipients of these awards have alw ays included the best and brightest of each graduating class.

Althea K. Hottel Award

The first honors among senior women is named for one of Penn's great pioneers in women's education. Althea Kratz Hottel earned three Penn degrees (B.S. in Education, 1929; M.A. in Sociology, 1934; Ph.D. in Sociology in 1940) and served as Directress of Women 1936-1943, and then as the first Dean of Women from 1943 until her retirement in 1959. The Hottel award was established in 1959 to honor "intellectual competence, commitment to ideals and principles, and loyalty to the University of Pennsylvania."

Gaylord P. Harnwell Award

In 1969, the senior class decided that more women should be recognized for their service to the university. At the same time, they wished to honor the contributions of Gaylord P. Harnwell, a distinguished nuclear physicist who had served as President of t he University since 1953 and had announced his retirement for the following year. The 2nd women's award is therefore given in honor of president Harnwell.

David R. Goddard Award.

Like the Harnwell award, the Goddard award was established in 1969 to recognize exemplary service to the University community. It is named in honor of a prominent professor of Botany, who served as Provost of the University from 1961 to 1970.

R. Jean Brownlee Award

First presented in 1977, this award was named in honor of a woman who served as dean of the College for Women from 1958 to 1975, and who fought for women's equality long before it was accepted. Rebecca Jean Brownlee earned 3 Penn degrees (BS. Education, 1 934, M.A. Political Science, 1936; Ph.D. Political Science, 1942), devoted more than 40 years of her career to Penn, and in 1986 received the University's Honorary Doctor of Laws in recognition of her extraordinary acchievements. The Brownlee award is symbolic of fourth honors among the senior women.