Colorado Education Pioneers

Education wasn’t always available or of high quality for women and people of color. Women led the way to establish needed schools and provide access to a quality education for all. Let’s learn about some of those Colorado women education pioneers.

After pursuing her education in Europe at a time when most universities in the U.S. did not accept women, Mary Rippon arrived at the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1878 as the first woman faculty member. During her 30-year career at the University she served as Dean of Women, chaired her department, and mentored women students.

In 1913, Charlotte Perry and Portia Mansfield founded the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp in Steamboat Springs. Still in operation today, it is the oldest continuous dance school and camp in the U.S. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1916, due to Emily Griffith’s advocacy, the Denver Public School (DPS) system opened the Opportunity School to provide basic adult education and marketing skills. Griffith, who had taught since she was thirteen years old, realized that the parents of the poor students that she taught needed to learn enough skills to earn a living. In 1933, it was named the Emily Griffith Opportunity School and today is the Emily Griffith Technical College.

One of Colorado’s first Hispanic women to attend college, Erinea Garcia Gallegos worked as a teacher and school principal for twelve years prior to her marriage in 1932. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her postmistress of San Luis. She served for 40 years.

The first DPS teacher to have a school named for her, Edwina Hume Fallis worked for 42 years as a kindergarten teacher. Her unique gift for helping children listen to and tell stories evolved into her 1940 book The Child and Things which resulted in the establishment of the Fallis Toy Shop.

An Emily Griffith Opportunity School graduate, Pauline Short Robinson became the first African-American librarian in Denver in 1943. Robinson established one of the largest summer reading programs in the country and introduced Reading Is Fundamental to Denver.

In 1950, Anna Petteys became the first woman elected to the Colorado Board of Education. After she came to the attention of the White House, Petteys served on the Committee for Special Education and the Committee on Education for Migrant Children.

Rachel Noel dedicated herself to desegregating the Denver schools. In 1965, she was the first African-American woman elected to public office in Colorado and the first African-American elected to the DPS school board. Noel chaired the Department of Afro-American Studies at Metropolitan State College and was elected to the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

Evie Dennis began her public education career in 1966 as a teacher, serving eventually as Deputy Superintendent and Superintendent of DPS. She developed a number of innovative programs before embarking on her second career in which she supported athletic endeavors and became the first woman on the U.S. Olympic Executive Committee.

While working as a kindergarten and elementary school teacher in the Watts area of Los Angeles, Mildred Pitts Walter saw a need for books that would appeal to young black readers and that she was going to have to write them. Her first book, “Lily of Watts - A Birthday Discovery” was published in 1969, followed by her second book, “Lily Takes a Giant Step.” Walter is also a civil rights activist and women’s advocate.

In 1979, Lena Archuleta became the first Hispanic female principal in DPS. Over more than 30 years, she advocated for the Hispanic community in educational institutions and was the first woman to serve as president of the Latin American Education Foundation.

Inventor, entrepreneur and college administrator, Kristina Johnson became the first woman dean of engineering at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering in 1999 after many years as a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. After becoming the first woman Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, Johnson served as Chancellor of the State University of New York and President of The Ohio State University.